Every Ride Ends With A Climb

Thanksgiving Break Update

2009-11-27T18:19:00.002-05:00

Click on Cheryl's blog wolfmoonserenade to see what we've been upto. Great photos and great narrative including an eventful 36 hours dealing with a skunk close encounter.
Also, started my off season training this week after quite a while off the bike. Finaly feeling motivated again!

I Wanna Ride 'Cross!!!

2009-11-13T19:32:00.001-05:00

Check out his short film of cyclocross racing. Man, that looks fun!

Gran Prix of Gloucester - A Cyclocross Film from Benjamin Eckstein on Vimeo.

2009 Season: Excuses, Excuses!

2009-10-16T21:07:00.015-04:00

My season is way over! I came out strong with a really good off season program that lifted my fitness, reached a goal of completing a century, but otherwise it has been a frustrating and disappointing season for me.. This may sound petty and it may indeed be, but I can't help being competitive. It's in my blood and how I was raised. The good news is I still had fun riding and competing here and there and every year I ride at a decent fitness level is another year with miles in the legs, lungs and heart which I can build on for next year. I just wish I had not gotten injured (plantar fasciitis on July 4th and still plagues me today) and had a more favorable work schedule to ride and compete more. The KHS train keeps adding more freight to the work load and rec time is being squeezed severely. My last opportunity to race at the Great Osprey Challenge was canceled, which is OK, since I've only trained six times in the last three weeks. It would have been ugly.
I didn't get to do any mass start races (well, I did one training criterium with Wheels way back in April) and not any mtb races either. Grad school in the summer is good for the career, but not so good for the bike racer. In the Maine Time Trial Series I finished 11 out of 56 riders in my age group (see below). That may sound good, and it is for me, but it could have gone better. The injury compounded by mechanical/tech issue during one race, extreme race day fatigue due to late nights in dorms followed by 5am wake-ups for race day travel and other assorted boarding school obligations that piled on at two other races. Also, a screw-up on a start time (I was WAY early) that had me over cooked for the race as I decided to get a good pre-race warm-up whereupon I got ridiculously lost and rode too far and too hard before the race. I rolled up to the start seconds before being a DNS and rode best I could considering I had no time to refuel with a carb drink per usual. I bonked about 12 miles into a 15 mile TT. I limped to the finish without any gas left. I chalked up the day to a good century preparation ride. Aside from a cervelo P4 TT bike appearing under the Christmas tree (hell, I'd be happy for any level TT bike!) I don't think I'll be able to sneak up much more than top ten in my age group considering the dudes that are ahead of me are cycling freak shows with $5,000 TT bikes to boot. So, If can break the top ten in my age group next year and hopefully top 25 overall, I'd be pretty happy. The goal this off season is to keep my weight manageable, continue working on the power and pile up some more miles this winter on the trainer, on the snowshoes and on the XC skiis. I know I'll be rearing to go next spring!
I'll aim for the stars to eventually land on the moon. All told, I can live with that.

Peak Performance Maine Time Trial Series - 2009 Final Standings
9/15/09
Men 35-44
1. Fred Thomas
2. Seth Brooker
3. John Meerse
4. Mike Golay
5. Jim Barry
6. Bruce Diehl
7. Steve Connor
8. Andy Haskell
9. Timothy Bryce
10. Bob Turner
11. Matt Moore
12. Joseph Ewings
13. Mike Spangenberg
14. Greg Goodhue
15. Thomas Connor
16. Matthew Sudduth
17. Paul Coluccio
18. Sven Lohse
19. James Karcanes
20. Patrick Ruane
21. William O'Brien
22. Norman Morgan
23. Guillermo Herrera
24. Mark Spottiswood
25. Scott Marr
26. Lucas Hubbard
27. Keith Loiselle
28. Robert Hetzer
29. John Caswell
30. John Kachmar
31. Armand Pantalone
32. Jason Callari
33. Jeff Yingling
34. Ron Colavolpe
35. Matt Fowler
36. Alvin Bugbee
37. Derek Hilton
38. John Tipping
39. Mark Burns
40. Paul Demerchant
41. Richard Brown
42. James Johnson
43. Peter Leavitt
44. Rick Durgin
45. Rick Scott
46. Jim Dunn
47. Bill James
48. Tom Murray
49. Richard Long
50. Ed Maillet
51. Tom Scontras
52. Chris Kein
53. David Richard
54. Troy Goss
55. Thomas LesBosquet
56. Paul Weiss

Dempsey Challenge Century, 10/4/09

2009-10-13T22:21:00.017-04:00

I rode my first century on Oct. 4 at the Dempsey challenge in Lewiston/Auburn a couple of weeks ago. Since becoming serious with riding the last few years I have always wanted to complete one of these. I have mapped out a couple of routes over the last two years to complete on my own, including a ride to Bethel, Maine and back which would be a good ride to do perhaps next year.

I was psyched to see the Dempsey Challenge come around as it would be a fun event and for a good cause, The Patrick Dempsey Center for Cancer Hope and Treatment. In short order I raised about $460 from Kents Hill School and was proud to represent the school for this charity ride. Thanks to KHS for its support of the charity and to me to ride it and to Cheryl for the support and encouragement to make it happen. This day meant a lot to me.

Cheryl and I woke early Sunday and headed out to the event which turned out to be a decent day with temps in the high 50's and partly sunny. this was after three straight days of heavy rain and it cleared early enough for me to keep the rain gear at home. We arrived to quick a spectacle! A few thousand people ready to ride various distances and even a 5K running race. There were vendors, performers, spectators, news crews and of course TV and Movie Star Patrick Dempsey himself decked out in a Specialized kit ready to ride the 50 mile route. Dempsey seemed really at ease and very happy at the turn-out and true to his native Mainer roots, was down to earth and very approachable, signing autographs and chatting with folks. There were plenty of young women and girls squealing away at his every word and Cheryl got a few pics of him as we were just a few yards from him. At one point Dempsey walked right past Cheryl and she said "Thanks for doing this for Maine" too which Dempsey replied with a smile, " You bet!" After a brief swoon, Cheryl composed herself and took some pictures at my request of the stars I was interested in: Elite Pro Cyclists George Hincapie, Ted King
and David Zabriski. It was way cool for me too see these real deal euro tour pros. They looked much like elite cyclist anywhere, just more polished and very lean, though not gaunt or sickly looking like some pros.

after some standing around we were off on the 101.8 mile ride and I soon found a good tempo and settled into a long day on the saddle. I only was off my bike for just a few minutes to take a bathroom break, other than that I was riding for 6hours and 20 minutes over 108 miles. that's right I added SIX miles to the ride due to a missed turn where upon I found myself in no mans land, alone and wondering where everyone was. i motorist informed me I missed a turn after ridden a few miles to another intersection. Thanks to the good Samaritan, I didn't get way of course. Every turn but this one was properly marked and had course marshals to alert rides of the turns. This particular turn was at the bottom of a steep hill, which I bombed down at about 55 mph (seriously. I sometimes top out at 60mph on steep descents. 210 lbs going down hill helps) and flew right past the turn which was in the middle of a personnel change and for just a minute no one was there to show the way. That was the only glitch on an otherwise great day of riding. I covered 100 miles in 6 hours flat, which was my goal, averaging just over 18 mph for the ride. It was VERY hilly with about 6500 feet of climbing. I may go very fast down hills, but up them is another matter.

After a recover week of easy spinning i was supposed to crank up the training again to prepare for my last event of the Year, the Great Osprey Challenge at Wolf Neck Farm in Freeport, Nov. 1, but school work piled a bunch of obligations on me and riding time has been very slim. Two weeks to go, so I'll see what I can get in and just try to hang on and have fun and not get lapped by fellow KHS rider Todd Wheelden.

West Branch Penobscott River Fishing Trip

2009-10-11T15:48:00.015-04:00

Narration coming soon. Time to watch the Pats beat Denver!

So, the pats lost! ugh!

Dave Pearson, Eric
Turner, his friend Taft and Eric hunt and I headed up country last June after end of the year meetings were done for a few days of well deserved down time and fishing in a world class land locked fishery near Baxter State Park. We loaded up on provisions and made the 3 1/2 hour trip north mid0day Monday morning and were fishing the "Big Eddy" by sunset. People come from all over the country and even beyond to fish this river and its eddy in June to time up with the caddis fly hatch. It did not disappoint this year. As you all know June was a very wet one with weeks straight of rain, but we lucked out and got four days of sunny skies and warm temps, which was the last good weather until August came around. Eric and Taft came for the superb whitewater kayaking and the rest for the fish. Eric Hunt and Dave concentrated on the big eddy as that is where large fish are caught. The down side is that you can be elbow to elbow with other fishermen and the the open water is crammed with boats. In an area of a few acres of water there can be 25 people and 12 or more boats out competing for prime spots and casting space. Catching fish is important to me, but the experience is even more to me. I went on my own and bushed whacked up river to get some breathing room and enjoy some beauty and solitude. I spent the next few days fishing the more remote pools and catching a couple decent salmon and even a couple of brook trout.

The highlight of the trip for me was hiking to a back country pond, borrowing a small row boat a local had left (I was careful/respectful with it and used a log to pole myself around the shallows of the pond) and enjoyed a few hours of being the only person on this 100 acre beautiful pond. I was fishing with my old friend Guy Wheelock's fly rod, which he left to me after he passed away the previous fall. It is a custom made rod with his name on it and I tried to take a picture of it with me. so he could enjoy one last , sunny day on the water fishing. This proved to be a bit emotional for me as I fished with his fly rod while looking out on a mountain I know he knew so well. This was Guy country and he spent many years fishing these waters and exploring the waters below Ripogenous dam as a young man. Thanks for the memory, Guy!

Anyway, I hiked back from the pond, got hungry, caught a small brookie, contemplated eating it raw like a sardine, but put it back to catch another year. All told it was another great Maine experience and I can't wait to get back again next June!

Back From the Dead

2009-10-11T15:01:00.004-04:00

Hello friends and family! It's been a long time since my last post and a lot has gone on. Losts of grad school work, a little fishing early in the summer, now lots of KH school work and football coaching, a lot of rain and even a little bike riding here and there. I am trying to get back to at least one post per week this school year, as it seems doable and frankly, good for me to do something besides grade tests and lab reports and blow the coaching whistle (I don't even want to mention football again. Yes, it's that bad). A couple of catch-up posts regarding an awesome fishing trip I took, a summer riding recap, a couple race reports and that should get me back up to speed. Thanks for reading and feel free to forward the blog to others who may be interested (old friends or other bike freaks).

Life Is Rich Yet Too Busy

2009-06-10T20:52:00.003-04:00

No riding for several days. Actually my last exercise was 3 hours of pushing a lawn mower around our place up near the woods at the back of KH. Seems we are last on the list for mowing, so last Sunday I mowed about two acres of WILD lawn. It was high! Being a freak, I checked my heart rate often and I was working hard enough to keep it fairly aerobic. I was actually sore the following day. Achy knees and sore tendons/stiff muscles! I chalked it up to an afternoon of effective cross training. Since then it has been end of the year faculty meetings, social events (pretty much mandatory. They serve us beer and wine, so I'm cool with that.) and year end paper work/ grade reports and closing up the classroom. This spring has been the busiest yet in my nine years at KH and I guess there is little I can do to change it. I'll try to ride a few times the rest of this week to buffer the loss of fitness before I go on a much needed fishing trip up north with a few colleagues. Actually I'll climb Mt/ Katahdin while I'm up that way, so that will be a good workout, then I'll come back and just let 'er rip for the rest of the summer. When I start Grad School again this summer, I will actually be riding a lot because I'll be commuting to UNH from Stratham both ways most days. Last year this was great for my fitness, as I lugged about 20-25lbs of gear in a back pack and I rode like a mad man to limit my time on the very busy roads of southern NH. I also look forward to training for the Stratham Fair road race and the Yankee Homecoming race I'll run with my sister, Heather again this year. So, in the meantime, I enjoy the moment and relish the extra time with Cheryl, Murphy and Huck afforded me now that school's out. I'll sneak rides in when I can.

Belfast TT Race Report

2009-05-30T15:12:00.007-04:00

18/47

http://www.mypeakmultisport.com/news/2009_Belfast_Bicycle_Club_Time_Trial_Results.htm

Sorry for the lack of blog action lately. As my brother put it I've "gone underground." It's the end of the school year here at KHS and the amount and pace of work has increased. The result has been little sleep and even less training. In the two weeks preceding the Belfast race I only got on the bike 5 times. It should have been 10 -12 times. I lost a bit of fitness and was several pounds over my goal weight for this race, which I could feel in this race and actually finished 45 seconds slower than last year. I was pretty disappointed, but Cheryl, who came with me to the race, which was great, put it in perspective for me. She asked if I enjoyed riding and racing, which I do, so I should enjoy being out there testing yourself and having fun even though it doesn't always go as planned. Honestly, with my work schedule, it's a victory getting away and participating in these events. That said, I am looking forward to having more training time and racking up some more personal best times in the races to come. In fact I have a race Sunday 5/31 in Cape Elizabeth. My advisee Pat and I will be departing KHS at 5:30 am (ouch!) for the 8 am race. I've never done this course, so success will be judged by finishing safely and finishing in front of a couple of riders who I really should be in front of, but who nipped me by a minute or so last race. Hopefully my legs will be up for it. I'll try to post a race report Sunday night with prelim results.

Go Big or Go Home: My Brother Rocks!

2009-05-16T19:29:00.007-04:00

My brother, Dave, all 6'8" 250lbs of him (just two years ago he was 320 lbs! Another riding success story!) rode the Tour de Syracuse criterium today. His first mass start race and first test among the little people, as we Moore's say. Dave hung tough within the pack, even though he doesn't even get shielded from the wind within the pack due to his size (See the picture! Dave is the large human two bikes left of the pine tree) Dave is still pushing a lot of air behind the skinny's due to his division I size football body (D- Line, BC, '87-'90). Dave rode hard and gave it all he had because that's all he knows how to do. Congratulations, Dave and let 'er rip tomorrow during the Tour de Syracuse Road Race.

Next year, lets do it together!

Mid-Coast TT Race Report

2009-05-13T10:16:00.003-04:00

A very small turnout last Sunday, I guess due to the weather, but I've seen it worse and have twice as many people. The fast riders showed up (I do not count myself as one. I mean the really fast riders) of course and Fast Fred set yet another course record. Amazing! He averaged nearly 28 mph in windy conditions. Sick! My time, well a little different. I still was 1:50 min faster than last year, but I am confident that I could have done better. Here's why: I RODE THE FIRST 3.5 MILES IN THE SMALL CHAIN RING! What an idiot! I kept looking down to the rear cassette, which I had in a big gear, wondering why I was going so slow. I just chalked it up to the head wind. It wasn't until I finally looked directly down to the crank set to see, to my HORROR, that I was in the small ring. I quickly switched and hammered the rest of the way, carrying on an expletive strewn narrative in my head on my self-made misfortune. Every race is a learning experience! Next up is a busy weekend of the 23/24 of May. Belfast TT on Saturday and then the last SIP crit on the Sunday.

http://www.mypeakmultisport.com/news/Peak_Time_Trial_Midcoast_Results.htm

LL Bean TT Race Report

2009-05-09T10:41:00.006-04:00

37/93

Haven't felt much like writing. Lots of School work and fatigue. In fact I rode the LL Bean Time Trial race on about 4 hours sleep, which wouldn't be so bad, except the two previous nights I got about 5 hours sleep each night due to having to work in the dorms. So, Sunday morning I met Pat E at 5:45 am and we drove to Freeport for the race. Pat was in good spirits as he had a great day previously at the Polar Bear Triathlon where he placed second in his age group. He was good to go as his 18 year old body recovered well from his effort Saturday. I felt like a dead man! Very tired, but I had been training for months so I wasn't about to miss this race. After missing the exit due to being distracted by a hitchhiker on the highway and then actually missing my start time after a too short of a warm -up , I was off and racing. The start official let me jump in the line and I started 30 seconds later than I should have. At least I didn't flat!
Pat had a good race finishing in 53:25 and i just barely snuck the 18.3 mile very hill and twisty course in 49:59 Two minutes 6 seconds faster than last year! Not bad for a dead man.

http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2009/05/03-LLBean-TT.asp

Trainer + ESPN = Average Workout

2009-04-23T23:08:00.008-04:00

After nearly 3 weeks without rain it has been pretty wet here the last few days. I have ridden in the rain, but I only have one road bike for training and races, so I need to baby it, plus riding in the rain sucks. So I was back on the trainer this week. I have migrated out of the basement and have been riding in the living room while watching TV, which makes the time go by a lot easier. I hope to ride to Kingfield this weekend after my Lacrosse game Saturday where Cheryl and I will stay with Dee Dee during the KH long weekend. I would like to ride up rt. 27 from Kingfield up to the Sugarlaof Mountain access road to the base lodge (40 ish miles) and back to Dee Dee's Sunday and then ride on back home Monday. It's 50 hilly miles (Kents Hill foothills to the full on white mountains of Maine) one way, so there is potential for a very big few days (140 ish miles with some higher efforts the next few days). We'll see.

A word to my friend, Ross: Cheryl and I are thinking of you. Come north when your ready and lets go fishing.

SIP Criterium Race Report

2009-04-21T22:25:00.006-04:00

Southern Maine Cycling Club (SMCC) SIP Crit Series

So not having a bike I decided to run my ass off in a 5K Saturday to get a hard effort in this weekend. After limping home after a personal best in the Mark Hazzard Day Race, I arrived home to a message from Steve of Kennebec Bike and Ski that my Speedster is ready to come home. Crap! Now I have to ride the SIP crit! I didn’t want to be that guy who talks the game and then bails out, so I drove into Hallowell to the shop picked up the bike. It looked great and in killer condition with new shifters, chain and a new computer to top it all off. Steve gave me a killer deal on the whole shebang and I left smiling, but way worried about riding with elite level racers in 18 hours. I got home and slowly climbed the stairs to the bathroom where I drew an ice bath and soaked my body in COLD water for 20 shivering minutes. If your legs are trashed and knees are throbbing like mine after a super hard effort, an ice bath will do wonders for your recovery. It just takes some courage to do it, because let’s face it. It’s invasive.
After the bath I dressed then went to coach a lacrosse game on slightly better legs only to stand on them for about 3 hours which then negated the ice bath. I went home, dropped my bike and gear off at Wheels’ place and then got off my feet for the next few hours followed by ANOTHER ice bath, then went to bed hoping I would feel fresher in the morning.
The race was in Saco, about 75 minutes south of Kents Hill, so I woke at 5:30 am and walked over to Wheels’ place, jumped in his car and we were off.
We arrived in Saco at about 7am, registered and got geared up. It was cold. About 40 degrees with a crisp sea breeze. Wheels was unimpressed. I was hoping the cold would dull the throbbing in my knees. It did not. We both sat in the car trying to man-up to get on our bikes. Off course the warm-up was short and I never did feel like I got my legs to flush out properly. So what, I said. Stop whining and hammer as hard as you can. I did and actually hung with the pack of cat 1-4 riders (I’d guess mostly cat 3 riders, which is pretty damn fast, with one or two cat 1 and 2 guys and the rest of us at cat 4 ability) for 19 of the 20 one mile laps. Just 20 miles, you say? That sounds easy. But it’s not the distance. It’s the intensity. I can hop on a bile and spin an easy 50-60 miles on any giving day, but I can’t do an all out, heart pounding, leg burning, lung searing hammer fest any day I want. It’s just too hard on the body. So, after my hard run the day before, it turns out my leg muscle tissues were on a very strict time table of function. The bottom dropped out of my leg power with incredible swiftness at lap 19. Now, you may think that I just had ONE MORE LAP. Why couldn’t I just suck it up and finish strong. It was physiologically impossible. The muscles would no longer contract with any significant force. I was toast.
It did not help that I did not drink one once of fluid during the race as I thought I would be alright during a short, but intense race. I was so very wrong. I was helpless as I saw the pack roll away from me one mile from the finish. I cursed, put my head down and my hands out in TT position and tried to peddle as hard as my body would allow to at least keep them in sight. Keeping my head down on the back straight away was a poor decision (a lowered head isn’t necessarily aerodynamic anyway). I rolled straight on through the intersection where I was supposed to take a hard right to the finish line. I raised my head about ¼ mile after the turn, actually laughed out loud at my stupidity and sat up with my hands on the tops, turned around and spun lazily to the finish. I met Wheels who finished up front. I drank a lot of Gatorade, had a cliff bar to refuel my legs then we went off for an hour recovery ride, of which the last 10 minutes my legs began to cramp as my muscles burnt up the sugars I had just ingested 50 minutes earlier. Thankfully and mercifully, Wheels put things in perspective for me. Hanging with the pack in an “A” race was really pretty good. He confirmed that there were some really fast riders in the pack and the pace was rugged for him also. I need to keep fueling during the race and just keep hammering along. I’m going to try to do this crit again in a few weeks on fresher legs and see how it shakes out. A great learning experience and an even better training weekend. Next up the LL Bean Time Trial May 3.

Mark Hazzard Day 5K Race Report

2009-04-20T21:09:00.006-04:00

Kents Hill School hosted the first Mark Hazzard Day 5K Run this year in honor of alum Mark Hazzard '75 who is suffering from Lou Gehrig's Disease. The race had about 100 entries of a few locals and lots of students and faculty. KHS heavy hitter runners Catherine Sterling, Will and Amanda Rhem (Will and Amanda ran, but went easy) and race organizer Meg Bennett did not compete, so the field was a bit soft, but it raised a lot of money, which was the focus of course. So the winner won in 20 minutes (I don't know the guy, but he's a local triathlete), KH student and my advisee Pat Englehardt took second with a personal best 21:56. He just keeps getting faster! Damn kid. I came in sixth place with a personal best 22:20. Pat and I compete against each other in a friendly way, so we both push each other to our best. Cheryl and Dee Dee walked the course with our 3 year old Lab Huck who had a blast and knocked over the fish line tape and posts at the end prompting our headmaster to comment "who's dog is that anyway?" A page out of "Marley and Me."

I had a PB because I ran hard due to the believed fact that I would not be racing my bike on Sunday at the SMCC SIP crit. Kennebec Bike and Ski did not have my bike ready for me on Friday and I did not think it would be ready for me Saturday or that I would have the time to pick it up even if it was, as I had a lacrosse game to coach Saturday afternoon.

Upon arrival from the 5K there was a message from Steve at the shop that my bike was finally, indeed ready for pick-up. I jumped in the jeep and got the bike and made it back in time for my game. I rode the bike around campus for about 15 minutes, which is all I would get before I lined up against real deal elite riders (go to Wheel's blog and click on some of his links to some wicked fast Mainers) the following morning. My first legit ride on my rode bike of 2009 was among about 30 elite riders from category 1 to fast cat 4 riders (was I one of those fast cat 4 guys? Perhaps without the intense running effort the day before. I'll know more later in the year when I line up with them again). Suffice to say I was up against it, but curious to see were my fitness was...

Saga of the Speedster

2009-04-13T22:41:00.006-04:00

As I posted back on March 20, i dropped my one and only road bike off a Kennebec Bike and Ski for a thorough tune up and upgrade of a part or two. I upgraded to an ultegra 10 speed cassette and Alex at the shop threw it on and proceeded to work the derailleurs for compatibility as I used to run a 9-speed, but have the gear (or so i thought) for 10-speed shifting. All went well until Alex tried to shift using the levers. Turns out my break/shifters are exclusively 9-speed and would not work with my new upgrade. I needed to put the older 9-speed cassette back on or upgrade to 10-speed shifters. Sounds like a nice opportunity to upgrade the brake/shifters to ultegra except for one small problem. The upgrade would cost me around $350, which I certainly don't have. Steve gave me a good deal on a pair of new 105 10-speed brake levers/shifters, but I had to wait for the part to be mailed from shimano AND wait for the next paycheck (I get paid ONCE a month at KHS, which is a serious drag) to pay for the parts and the tune-up work, which is just as important.

Well last week I got a call that that after Alex put the new gear on the left shifter was faulty and was broken right out of the box. I now needed to wait 'till this Tuesday, 4/14 for the new part. To boot, Steve is short handed as John is away on family business and Alex is on vacation. After some poor pitiful me talk on the phone, Steve as told me the bike will be ready by this weekend (I hope you read this Steve!) but hopefully sooner, like this Thursday. I am racing Sunday in the SMCC Saco Industrial Park Criterium (hence forth SIP crit) with Wheels and I REALLY need to log a couple of rides to get used to the road position again, as I've been riding my mt. bike and stationary bike. My fitness is good, but I am dire need of some saddle time on the speedster. So, hopefully Steve will come through (he always does) and get me on the road in a couple of days. Until then, more creative training and wishful thinking!

The Treadmill as Metaphor

2009-04-10T20:45:00.003-04:00

So, school has been ridiculously busy and I finish one task to just begin seemingly the same thing all over again, and again and again. This spring is becoming a vicious cycle of committee meetings with follow up meetings, with paper work, followed by memos, directives, emails tagged with annexed resources and addendum's to agendas. Last I knew I was a biology and env. studies teacher, but lately (really the trend has been growing the last two or three years) I spend MUCH more time doing administrative work than teaching or preparing to teach. Something is amiss.

All of this gerbil on the treadmill work makes it all the more important for me to carve out a small slice of time for myself to do what I love (I actually love teaching. I just don't do it much anymore) which is physical training, specifically on my bike. Well, today no bike. It was the literal treadmill in the fitness room of the Alfond. I ran pretty hard for 41 minutes (I like to do one extra minute to sneak it over the edge) with about 1/3 of that at high intensity. I am running the Mark Hazzard Day 5k one week from now, so a few miles in the running shoes is necessary. It felt good to push myself after a few days off and maybe I can salvage this week with four good days of training if I can get some time in over the weekend.

Sorry for the long Break!

2009-04-09T20:21:00.004-04:00

I haven't posted for a while because there wasn't much to report and I also just wasn't feeling it. I have been training diligently since January for this coming season, and I guess I've been feeling a bit burned out. Not good when the season hasn't even started yet. School is in full swing and the pace is furious. Due to the make up work and classes from the extended spring break (flu epidemic shut down school) the schedule and workload has been, frankly, way over the top. Add coaching JV Lacrosse, leading a research project to establish Env. Ed as a "Peak of Excellence" and trying to train has got my head spinning. I have only got one ride in this week so far. I guess I can say that I'm due for a rest week, but I'm exhausted anyway, without the training. I'm not sure my body and mind are benefiting from the time off the bike. Actually, I bet I'd feel better if i could ride. I'll try tomorrow if my body (recurring back issue rearing its ugliness again! A relic from my years of physical labor jobs, and proably years of contact sports) and mind are up to it
The only good news is that my sprint training is improving. This is the first year I've done any real sprint training and my rpms are getting higher. I use the stationary bike at the Alfond fitness center because my bike is STILL in the shop (long story for another post) and I only have my Kona mtb bike to ride. Not good for sprint training. My rpms were around 172 on the stationary bike over an 8 second sprint two weeks ago. Last Tuesday (my only ride this week!) I reached 180 rpms on the same program and resistance level. Hopefully I can reach 200 rpms by summer. I hope to do several criteriums this year, hence the sprint work.

First Outdoor Ride of 2009

2009-03-22T17:13:00.005-04:00

I took the plunge today and completed my first outdoor ride of 2009. I had to pass up the previous few days of sunny, mild weather because I did not have a bike ready for the road. Saturday, I replaced a tube on my Kona Kula Primo and adjusted the rear disc break to amend some rubbing that was happening between the disc and the break pad. Looking at the weather last night on weatherunderground.com it looked like my only chance for a hypothermic free ride would be today. An arctic cold front is moving down from, well, the arctic and the next few days look to be pretty chilly. Like in the 20's chilly with some wind to boot. The hills are hard enough already without cold arctic wind blowing at ya.
I chose to do a 20 mile loop (I was riding a mountain bike with big knobbys on, so 20 hilly miles is sufficient for a first ride) that brought me out into the hinterlands of Fayette and Wayne. Good, quiet country roads with some good organic decomposition going on, as I rode by a couple of dairy farms with a winter full of manure just now thawing out. This disctinctive smelling decomp reminds me (as if I need reminding, I love it here!) of the rural personality of this land.
I was scheduled (I'm following a CTS training plan) to do several 3 minute zone 5 intervals (he calls them "power intervals." Lots of other coaches despise his naming of already understood techniques, but whether they like him or not, he's good. He's also wicked successful and probable filthy rich, which gives struggling coaches more fuel for their fire) today with specific interval lengths and specific rest periods. This kind of structure is difficult to duplicate on the kinds of roads we have here, so I went with fartlek training instead. Fartlek is Swedish for "speed play." It's perfect for me here because it is unstructured intensity of varying lengths and times. One "interval" may be a 12 second all out sprint, and another a 10 minute steady state effort and anything in between. I attacked every hill I encountered from short, but steep little 10 second out of the saddle sprints to 2-5 minute hills where I went at full VO2 max efforts (even higher than time trial effort. It hurts!) to the half mile and full one mile hills. These longer hills I did at time trial effort, which for me is at a HR between 175-179. To spice it up even more I sprinted DOWN a couple of hills (stay seated going down, unless you have a death wish. I currently don't.) to really turn the peddles over at about 150 rpms . My best out the saddle sprint is 175 rpms. I don't know if that's good or not. I don't sprint enough to really train it. Anyway, you can see I packed a lot in over 20 miles. All said, my legs and lungs felt strong. If I can cut a few pounds, I think I may have good season. It sure would be nice to be at the front for a race or two. I wonder what that feels like?

Speedster At The Spa

2009-03-20T18:38:00.004-04:00

I just dropped off my road bike at Kennebec Bike and Ski for a well overdue overhaul/tune-up. The guys at the shop tweaked a few things for me last season, but I forced myself to do as much as possible on my own to save money and learn about bike maintenance. The new ultegra 10 speed cassette is on, so the rear derailleur needs to calibrated for that, the wheels "trued" (adjust any warps in the rims), cable cleaned and/or replaced if needed and shifting worked on. Plus I asked Steve (the shop owner) to check the bottom bracket (you only let someone you trust work on your bottom bracket. Sounds weird in a few ways, but true) as it has been creaking. Hopefully it's an easy fix. Bottom brackets can be finicky and expensive. Finally, I asked the guys to work some magic on my bike computer. I depend heavily on it for cadence info as well as trip miles, speed etc, but mostly cadence. It's not displaying cadence anymore, and even after a couple of hours fiddling with it, I couldn't get it to work, so maybe they can get it going for me.

I hung out for a while and shot the shit with Steve and Alex. Steve says he's going to run the 5K at KHS, so that's pretty cool. He's training for a half marathon for the late spring. Alex is a cool cat who wrenches for the shop. He's a pretty good rider and we talked about doing some rides together this spring. I hope it works out. I'll have pictures of the bike and shop when I pick it up next week.

Mark Hazzard 5k at KHS

2009-03-18T20:23:00.003-04:00

I'll be running this 5K race next month. It's at KHS so, if you'd like to run or walk it I'd love to see you there! It should be a cool mix of faculty, students and local runners. I'm looking forward to it, plus its for a good man (I taught Mark's step daughter a few years ago) and a good cause. See the info below provided and organized by KHS faculty and triathlete Meg Bennett.

On Saturday, April 18th at 9:00 am Kents Hill will be holding a 5K walk/run to raise money for ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) as a part of Mark Hazzard Day.
The Course: The race will start by the campus art gallery, wind around campus, turn right onto route 17, and right onto P-Ridge. At the top of P-Ridge there will be a turnaround point. There will be a water station at this point as well. On both the out and back sections of Route 17, participants must stay on the CAMPUS side of the road and inside the cones.

Note to students: Students who have athletic competitions that day must check with coaches first before signing up to run. Remember that the course can also be walked and that this is for a great cause!

Entry Fee: The entry fee will be $5 for ALL students and children under 16, and $12 for faculty/adults. Our goal is to have all of this money go to the local ALS group. All registrations need to be in by Friday, April 10th. Make checks payable to Kents Hill School and to the attention of Meghan Bennett. If you are planning on participating, please send me an email so that I have an idea of potential race numbers.

Volunteers: If you are unable to participate in the walk/run, volunteers are needed. Please contact me if you are interested in helping out!

Awards: As of now, awards will be given to the top male and female overall, and to the top KH male and female student. Stay tuned as there may be more awards given out.

Refreshments: There will be water, gatorade, and fruit at the finish line.

PLEASE JOIN US ON APRIL 18th TO SUPPORT A GREAT PERSON AND A GREAT CAUSE!

Roche Family Visit

2009-03-15T21:17:00.010-04:00

My sister, Heather, her husband Michael and children Noah and Riley came north from Merrimack, MA for a visit this weekend. We had a great time of eating, drinking, laughing and sledding on the Kents Hill Ski Hill. The kids have a blast and the adults even climb aboard for a ride or two. A beautiful, warm day to spend outside.We ended the day with lunch at the Liberal Cup and then parted ways. Cheryl and I hope to have them up in August this year so they can see how beautiful this region is during the summer. I would love to take the kids fishing on our little boat that Guy gave me.

Rattle River Winter Hike

2009-03-12T19:05:00.014-04:00

Some Pictures of Ross and Me during our annual winter back trip trip. This Year we went backpack to the Wild River Wilderness near Gorham, NH and did the Rattle River trail up towards Mount Mariah and Shelbourn Peak .We headed out Tuesday, March 10 and hiked a few hours up the Rattle River Trail near the new;y designated Wild River Wilderness in the White Mountains near the Maine, NH boarder. We like this area because it is little used, due to it's wild character. People like roads and mechanized access and Wilderness designation prohibits that, so no snow machines, ATV's etc in these woods. Just the way we like it! Anyway, we were planning on staying two nights but woke too sleet/freezing rain Wednesday morning and high winds. Miserable weather to climb/hike on a mountain ridge. We reluctantly packed back to the trail head and called it over. Perhaps one of these years we can put together a few days of decent weather. We'll try again next year.

Steady States Intervals, Snow Shoveling & Dave Does the Tour de Syracuse

2009-03-04T21:56:00.006-05:00

My training the last two weeks have consisted of steady state intervals to start to crank up the intensity for the power intervals heading my way later in March and April. Cross training has been in the form of snow shoveling deep snow, pushing cars and trucks out of deep snow, walking through deep snow, and full body shivering as the high temps at Kents Hill are a whopping 23 degrees and lows -4 earlier this week. Finally, today we reached 41 degrees. Will it last? Doubt it! It's March, but someone tell that to Earth!

Good news! My brother, who is a fellow bike freak and recovering football player has just registered for the Tour de Syracuse in May. He will be competing in the road race and then the criterium (sort of like NASCAR, but on bikes. Complete with gnarly crashes. Stay in front, Dave away from the drama!). Check it out at http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=8014 to see the details. I have four words for you, Dave to live by for the next 8 weeks: Power Intervals, Descending Intervals. Have fun (Not!)

Snow Dogs

2009-02-26T21:05:00.006-05:00

Kents Hill Communute.

Murph Girl on the trails with Dad. She was having so much fun. It was good to see the old girl enjoying herself!

She looks miserable, but only because I was holding her back for a forced photo. She wanted to run, or what passes for running for this nearly 13 year old girl now. She's a trail blazer at heart.

KH XC Ski

2009-02-25T20:28:00.012-05:00

Kents Hill School. Just a few steps from XC ski and snowshoe trails. I love It!

Groomed trails just 10 yard from my back steps.

Into the Woods.

I crashed and grabbed my camera so quickly I still have snow up my nose!

I am fortunate enough to live at the dorrstep of a couple of hundred acres of groomed XC ski trails. I ventured out for a two hour ski tuesday and was soooo happy to be in the woods. I've recently heard someone say that they get board hiking, walking, snow shoeing or skiing in the woods and I get close to being indignant when I hear this. I JUST DON"T GET IT. The woods are like a novel to me. So many sub plots and so many stories being told. Every time I venture into the woods I am overwhelmed with information. You just have to have an ecologocal educaton, and if you lack that, like many young children, curioisty will make a walk in the woods exciting. It did for me. My best childhood memories are those of me and my friends or my brother and sisiter exploring in the woods. You just open your eyes and your senses. I am blessed to live in rural Maine.

Flu Lays KH Low

2009-02-25T17:20:00.006-05:00

OK, I've gut some time off so I hope to do a TON of training. The extra time off came due to a biotic entity (it's not really alive but it shares some characteristics of both the biotic and abiotic. Bio nerd coming through again) in the form of the influenza virus type A and B. The epidemic was serious enough (see kentshill.org for further info. This is a cycling blog!) to start March break two weeks early. The kids were heartbroken! The faculty will just have to find other things to do, but I know these folks pretty well, so most of them will be doing pro-development and class prep for much of the "free" time, including me. But I've been freed up to train like a pro for the next five weeks! Bring on the Pain! (speaking of pain, check out the link of Lance working out. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0902/cycling.lance.armstrong.training/content.1.html Go easy on the weights, Lance!)
Anyway, I've already started hitting it hard. See next blog!

The Results Are In

2009-02-16T13:48:00.005-05:00

Check the link below if your interested in the race results. The pdf link is where you'll find the entire list of finishers. There where 210 overall. Pat finished an impressive 42 and my finish was 71. The website also has a link to ch. 6 news which covered the event, complete with a video clip of the race.

http://www.mypeakmultisport.com/news/PolarBear_5K_Results.htm

Polar Bear 5K Race Report

2009-02-15T18:08:00.009-05:00

Pat Englehardt and I ran the Polar Bear 5K Saturday morning, Feb. 14 at 9 am in Portland. The weather was cold! In the 20's and worse yet, a strong breeze to really cool things off. Well, we pre-registered, so the money was already spent, so we showed up, picked up our numbers along with about 250 other wack jobs (Seriously. It's still very much winter in Maine. We're nuts, but we were surrounded by like-minded crazies. There is comfort in the mob) . After a brief warm-up we were off. Actually, the race MC was a bit too wordy for my taste. Thanking everybody and anyone he could think of. Kinda like a bad wedding toast after a few too may glasses of champagne. Finally, they let us race and I lead Pat for about 50 yards and then the youngin' took over and ran away from me. He's getting stronger and I'm getting older (I think my gut also has something to do with it. See lean and mean Pat and then me busting through my XL t-shirt in the picture in front of the mini-van.)
Pat finished in about 22:30 and I finished about two minutes behind Pat. If the weather was better, I bet Pat may have finished sub-22. He had a good race. The course was windy and surprisingly hilly for a coastal town. All told it was a good training day and even fun if you like the feeling of intense muscle burn. I do.
I may do another 5k sometime before April. Maybe I can rope in my sister to do one when she comes for a visit in March and Pat is always game. I'd like another shot to redeem myself anyway before the bike season comes along. I'll post a link to the offical results when they come along.

2009-02-09T22:30:00.003-05:00

Below is a release from Peak Performance regarding the Maine Time Trial Series. I plan on racing the first five. After that Cheryl and I will be In NH taking Grad classes at UNH and living back on the farm with Mom. Now I really feel like I have something tangible to train for. Today I biked for 90 minutes including 30 minutes of higher intensity work (HR in the high 150's to 160's) and then 30 minutes of running on an indoor track at a moderate pace. A good training day!

Peak Performance Maine Time Trial Series Announces 2009 Schedule
The racing season is just around the corner, and you will not want to miss this year’s time trial series. We are thrilled that Peak Performance Multi-sport of Portland will once again be our title sponsor and will also host two new races.

Our races will continue to take you to fantastic venues all over the state from Presque Isle to Mt. Agamenticus, Fryeburg to Bar Harbor and many places in between. This year, we have added a few new events that are sure to be both challenging and rewarding. Regardless if you are a highly talented racer or a recreational cyclist just entering the competitive scene, time trialing is a perfect opportunity to participate in a race. Riders are started at 30-second intervals and are not allowed to draft; therefore, it is just you against the clock.

This year, we are offering 13 races with the final race, the State Championships, worth double points. In order to qualify for series prizes, riders must participate in a minimum of 4 races. Riders will accumulate points for each race they compete in with their top 8 scores counting towards their overall score. The better you place, the more points you receive, and the male and female with the highest points at the end of the season will receive the highly coveted perpetual trophies. In addition, top placers in all divisions will win prizes at individual races as well as at the year-end celebration. We will also offer fabulous raffle prizes at all the races and at the end of year thereby giving all participants a chance to win regardless of how fast you are.

Along with the commitment of the Bicycle Coalition of Maine, we are fortunate to have so many of our local bike shops sponsoring these races. Our race directors and their teams of dedicated volunteers work hard to ensure the courses are safe and the races are well run, fun events. Mark your calendars with the following race dates:

2009 Schedule

May 3 LL Bean Time Trial Freeport
May 10 Midcoast Time Trial Camden
May 23 Belfast Bicycle Club Time Trial Searsport
May 31 Peak Performance Time Trial Cape Elizabeth
June 7 Belfast Bicycle Club Time Trial Searsport
June 28 Dick Williamson Memorial Time Trial Auburn
July 5 Hinckley Time Trial Hinckley
July 12 Maine Bike Rally Time Trial Fryeburg
July 18 Presque Isle Time Trial Presque Isle
August 9 Mount Agamenticus Time Trial South Berwick
August 23 Mount Desert Island Time Trial Mt. Desert Island
August 30 Peak Performance State Prep Time Trial Cumberland
September 13 Maine State Time Trial Championships Cumberland

For individual race details and further event information, please visit http://www.mypeakmultisport.com/ or http://www.bikemaine.org/.

Someone Please Wake Up My Metabolism!

2009-02-06T19:49:00.007-05:00

November and December were 60 days of free for all caloric excess. It came in many forms, but mostly liquid, empty calories of the hops and barely variety. I put on 22lbs from my '08 race weight and it is coming off ever so slowly. Even with the increased training volume, the pounds are loathed to be shed. They have found a home and they ain't leaving! My near 40 physiology showing me who's boss. I can't even monitor my weight because I broke my scale. Well, I actually smashed it. After a strong week of training I stepped on the scale to be confronted with a number that was an affront to my senses and betrayed the hard work I had put into the peddles and snowshoes that week. Well, in a fit of anger I stomped down, I guess pretty hard (see how this training pays off?) on the scale to punish the evil coil mechanism for providing such an egregious number to me. I crushed the scale in spectacular fashion and now it's in a landfill somewhere in central Maine (my guess is Norrigewalk). To be competitive in cycling, one must have a good power to weight ratio. Strong, but light riders rule the course pushing big gears with light bodies. Big muscle heads like me go fast on flat roads where sheer muscle mass can churn out high power, but when the road starts to tilt up, gravity's insidious pull turns the strong, but big rider into a suffering puddle of flesh. The same mass that helps the big, strong rider tear it up on the flats, works against him in the hills. Speed does not kill. Gravity does. So, I'll keep training and work on the discipline to limit the empty carbs as these are the easiest calories to limit (I'll save some money while I'm a t it!). For a more detailed discussion of the role power to weight ratios plays in cycling, check out the link written by a former American pro, Bobby Julich:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features.php?id=features/2009/bobbyjulich_jan09

2009-02-02T12:55:00.003-05:00

Went for a 90 minute snowshoe in Kingfield yesterday. The snow was very deep with soft powder. I was wearing my big, 36 inch expedition/backcountry snowshoes and I was still sinking up to my knees and beyond once I got out into the woods. It was hard work, but fun. I cut it short because I didn't want to push quite so hard as I'm getting over a nasty chest cold. I was able to come across two deer beds were they hunkered down beneath some hemlock trees and a set of moose tracks. Saw lots of redpolls also (a species of finch).

New Gear!

2009-01-31T10:34:00.003-05:00

With the help of a Christmas LL Bean gift certificate and some gift B-Day money I was able to upgrade my cassette to Ultegra 10 speed. I have been riding a 9- speed for the last two seasons and it has been fine, but with the 10-speed I will have two extra gears (I ride a double, not a triple ring up front) which should give me more flexibility and cadence options riding theses foothills of central Maine. I hope to ride more road races/criteriums also this year, so this should help as these races demand more variability in cadence (peddle rpm) efforts.

I also scored two new Michelin Pro Race 3 tires! these are high end tires that are fast and light. I got them on sale for $35 when they retail at Bean's for $50. Even $50 is a good price for these because the local shops up this way usually have them at about $55. I was so surprised at the price i asked the bike shop manager at Bean's if they were damaged or factory seconds. He assured me they were not and that they just had a surplus of them from last year as most of their business is from pretty tame recreational riders who would not bother with these tires. So, I'm close to being ready for the '09 season. Just a new chain, complete tune-up and maybe, hopefully some new brakes. Kinda important!

Illness Getting in the Way

2009-01-29T18:30:00.003-05:00

I have felt lousy the past two days. A seriously sore throat with swelling and lots of chest congestion, achy body and fatigue from not being able to sleep well. I wanted to snowshoe yesterday afternoon or evening in the fresh new snow, but I was just too tired and feeling awful. I got 45 minutes on the bike this past Monday and followed it up by immediately running on the track at the YMCA for another 30 minutes. I'm trying to sneak in an hour a week of running (nothing nutty. Just some easy running with a few up tempo minutes here and there) because I'm thinking of running a 5K, Saturday, Feb 14 in Portland. Something to to keep me motivated. Anyway, I was HURTING this morning when I crawled out of bed. After finishing with my classes, I skulked back home, crawled back into bed and slept for hours. Feeling better after some sleep and lots of water, I actually rode the trainer in the basement for 45 minutes nice and easy (if there is such a notion). The workout was helpful, as getting a light sweat on and clearing out my chest (gross, but necessary) was needed to stimulate a little vitality back into me. I'm feeling a bit better, not great, but I better watch it. If I push it I could be sick for awhile and that would really mess things up. More sleep tonight and we'll see what the morning brings.

39 Is The New 30 !

2009-01-27T20:13:00.010-05:00

Well I turn 39 in a few hours and I guess I'm OK with it. Not thrilled, but I'll get over it. I guess it helps I'm immature for my age!
I was thinking of growing out a goatee again this year, but I noticed the first gray hair of my life has sprouted in force on my chin. Hence, no goatee. Oh, the vanity! Sad, but true.

velonews.com has a good article about a pro racer in the euro tour who is 4o yrs old. Check out the story at velonews.com.

Also,

I finished another week of training. I had a bit of a set back as I was aiming for 10 hours but finished with 7hrs. I had weekend duty which means I was assigned various tasks/duties to keep the KHS train up and running over the weekend. I snowshoed lazily the following Monday and then 75 minutes of bike trainer Tuesday. I was once again in the dorm Tuesday night, as that is my weekday dorm duty slot. So, with a late Sunday night, another late Tuesday night of work and then advisor reports due Wednesday afternoon (A report home to the parents of my advisees on how the year is going for them thus far), I was not able to get much training in. I did manage to get a ride in Thursday and then two back to back 2 hr rides in this past Saturday and Sunday, so at least I finished the week with some good saddle time. I'm off to a good start this week. Hopefully it will hold. I'm excited about the 10-15 inches of snow forcasted for us Wednesday. I'm looking forward to a good long snowshoe with Huck in some fresh powder this week. He'll have a blast. This may be the most serious Huck has ever looked. He is such a goofball!

The Torture Machine!

2009-01-23T22:23:00.008-05:00

Scott Speedster on an Elite Fluid Trainer. The torture machine! Notice the sweat guard attached to the handle bars to the seat post. This keeps salty sweat from corroding metal.

Rear wheel on the trainer barrel with fluid/plasma component for resistance. The fluid compartment gets super hot after an hour or two of friction. All I need to do is shift gears for added resistance, just like on the road. It's a great way to manipulate varying intensities and conditions without ever coasting or soft peddling, like you can get away with on the road if you just want to frolic around. There is no frolicking on the trainer!

Two hours is mind numbing and very hard on the body. Lets just say it takes some physical and mental conditioning to endure 120 minutes peddling nowhere in ones basement. It take commitment to a plan and it's like saving for a huge gift to yourself that you'll only realize months later. "Faith" is a good way to describe subjecting yourself to 10 hours/wk of trainer work in the doldrums of winter. I listen to music, daydream of cycling glory and immerse myself in the physical rhythm of the workout. Lance isn't the only one who likes to suffer!

Trainer Stress

2009-01-21T19:42:00.007-05:00

My training space. The dogs and my Ipod keep me comapny. The dryer keeps me warm in a 30 degree basement!

The bike stable above: Dance with the one who brung ya!

I got an email from a felow bike freak regarding my effort to baby my road bike and not put so many miles on it. Current trainers put little stress on the frame and components for the average rider, but here is my reply and some of my thoughts...

You’re right. It doesn’t place undo stress on the frame if you and I are just spinning or doing tempo or interval work while seated. But remember who those tests and reviews are focused on: 130-180lb riders who even if they stand up and do a sprint or even just stand for 10-60 seconds to mix up your position/muscle involvement while on the trainer don't put nearly as much stress on the rear hub/wheel and frame as my current 225lbs. Never mind your 255lbs+ ! (This guy was recently 300lbs and loss weight riding. Bikes Rule! Guess who family! ) Also, I have next to nothing for money for upgrades currently as we're saving for a down payment for a home, so even putting miles on last years Dura Ace chain, rear cassette and wear on the front cranks and rings makes a difference in how many actual road miles I can milk out of my current set-up. I would much rather use a stationary bike right now than my speedster on the trainer. That said, I'm working with a local bike mechanic to get an old specialized mtb bike rideable on the cheap so I can put a road slick on the rear and ride to my hearts content on the trainer, Until then it's 1/2 stationary bike at the local YMCA (I go off hours so people don't curse at me for monopolizing it), 1/4 on the trainer in the basement and 1/4 cross training on XC skis or snowshoes. Your CycleOps2 Fluid trainer is a choice piece of equipment! If you don't do any serious out of the saddle thrashing and don't mind replacing the chain or rear cassette a couple of months earlier than usual than knock yourself out.
I'm looking forward to riding with you again this summer. We'll stretch it out a bit this time!

Week Two Down!

2009-01-20T21:02:00.005-05:00

Last Sunday I finished my second week of off-season training. It is a base/foundation 4wk cycle and I notched 9.5 hours of bike time. The weekend had me doing back to back two hour days on the bike. Actually I used the stationary bike at the Alfond Athletic Center here at KHS. It works for me. I can easily manipulate the intensity (or lack there of) and watch cable TV, which is not an option for me on my trainer in the basement at home. I also do not like putting on the miles on my road bike if I can help it. I need to really baby my Scott Speedster as I won't be getting any new ride soon.
Come Monday my legs were pretty heavy and I was ready for a day off! Didn't happen though. I snowshoed in the Readfield Town Forest accompanying a student of mine who is doing an indepenedent study on Forestry. We met Harold Burnett of Two Trees Forestry who he is job shadowing and members of the Readfield Conservation Commission. We reviewed the logging operation that is under way in the town forest and I got to see what my student was learning.
The walking was easy with lots of stops and it was a nce day in the woods. Most days are!
Week three is 10 hours. I logged 75 minutes Tuesday snowshoeing with Huck. We got about 10-12 inches of beautiful powder Sunday and it was a blast walking through it. Good cross training and strenght training as I had to lift my knees high to break trail. I will probably do one more day of snowshoing or XC skiing later this week to mix up the training a bit. Keep it fresh!

A Walk in the Woods

2009-01-14T20:01:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday night I went for a snowshoe in the back 40 (closer to back 200 than 40) on the Kents hill trails. The night was gorgeous! The moon so bright I could have read a book under her light. I took Huck with me. Murph Girl stayed by the house. She's getting on in years and not always up for a stroll. I take Huck. Enjoy our time, but always remember the epic hikes I’ve had with Murph. She's a true trail blazer! Anyway, Huck and I went out for about an hour. I could not believe the amount of snowshoe hare sign I saw. Some biologists do not think Hares cycle in population (Booms and Busts) in lower latitudes like they do in the Canadian provinces, but in my humble and informed opinion I see lots of evidence that hares are at or near a population peak right now in Maine. State biologists are finding more and more Lynx in Maine and this makes sense due to the fact that Lynx prey almost exclusively on hares. When I worked on a Lynx/Hare research project in Montana we found similar cycles there as well. I also came across many coyote tracks in pursuit of the bunnies and one set of bobcat tracks. Pretty cool! Tracking is so much fun for me and there is so much to learn in the woods from animal sign. Huck actually flushed a bunny and chased the hell out of it while I ran screaming at Huck. He came back bounding to me all smiles with no sign of malice in/on him. A Huckleberry is no match for a snowshoe hare that is supremely evolved to avoid and escape much more experienced hunters than my lover, not a fighter Hucklebear. The worst he did was cause the bunny to burn some valuable calories when it shouldn't have.
I wish I could have stayed out longer, but I rode 2 hours on the stationary bike at the August YMCA earlier in the afternoon and my body was spent. It won’t be the last time I take a moonlit snowshoe!

Week One is in the Books and In the Legs!

2009-01-13T20:31:00.007-05:00

Hike a few miles up a glacier. It's great cross-training!

Last Sunday I finished my first week of my winter training program. I got 9 hours in! A great start to a winter that hopefully has me ripping by April for my first races (training criteriums in Saco). There is NO way I could have completed 9 hours a year or two ago without completely having my body cave in, but with three years of good mileage (I snuck in over 5,300 miles in 08, 3500 in 07 and 2500 in 06. These miles do not include the running, Nordic skiing, snowshoeing that I include in my lifestyle. Cross training is the key to keeping fresh for me) and training with structure has my legs feeling great and my heart rate in the 40's (waking HR, first thing in the morning).
I rode six days last week with minimum rides of 60 minutes and max of 2 hours a pop. All training rides were completed in Zone 2 Heart Rate (HR) overall with some bouts of intensity that got the HR up to zone 3 and 4. Zone 2 for me is about 140-150 beats per minute (bpm) and zone 3 is about 150-160 bpm. To put it in perspective, my time trial (TT) HR is about 176-179 bpm. This is the intensity I can hold with consistent power for the duration of a 15-18 mile race. It is intense, challenging and quite painful and yet fun. I know, I'm sick. Anyway, Most of the 9 hours was completed at about 140-145 bpm and I did a few minutes of high speed pedaling, getting my cadence (rpms) up around 110-120 rpms for about 3 minutes at a time. This is done in an easy gear so my HR doesn’t get up over 155bpm. Also I did a few "power stomps" where I get to a standstill and then push as hard as I can in the biggest gear I have for 10 seconds to build some strength and power. I get out of the seat (hence forth known as the "saddle") stomp hard for a few revolutions and then sit down for the last few seconds. It’s not really a sprint because the first few rpm's are so slow. It's a meant to be a power builder. Sunday was a 2 hour ride with 45 minutes of "tempo" work. I completed this with 45 minutes of continues riding in zone 3 and my average HR for this was 155bpm. For the 2 hours it was 143bpm. The tempo work will hopefully increase my "cruising" speed where I can go fast without putting much pressure on the peddles.
As long as I keep the easy spin days REALLY easy and get plenty of rest and fuel before and eat well during recovery, I think I can keep up the hours. Week 2 two will be 9.5 to 10 total hours, again in zone 2. The higher intensities will came in late Feb. and March when I have a super strong aerobic engine (cycle speak for “wicked fit"). I'll get some pictures of me on the trainer so you can see just how nutty it looks.

Gun Nuts And Proud Of It!

2009-01-12T19:01:00.011-05:00

This is how to spend your time during the long, cold days of a Maine winter: Shooting high powered guns!
Chris Scott and I went west over to Belgrade to a friends house compound and worked to site in Chris' Browning 270. The weather was rugged! Heavy snow and wind from the northwest at about 12-15 mph and in the low teens. Seriously, around zero or a bit below with the wind chill. No matter. We had a rifle to site in. Chris' 270 is virtually brand new and needed some rounds shot through it to break it in and get the scope set. It proved a bit difficult due to the fact that the rifle has a BOSS muzzle break on it that reduces recoil but makes it initially more difficult to get it sited in well (for the uninitiated, this means we were working to get the rifle shooting accurately with the scope, so where you aim it, the bullet hits. You shoot 1-3 rounds, check were they hit and make minute adjustments to the scope to bring the bullet up/down, left/ right. We finally got it pretty square, but will have to do some more work on it in the spring so it will shoot accurately qt 100 yards and beyond. Anyway, a good time spent in the Maine countryside!

Running Keeps Things Fresh

2009-01-11T18:53:00.004-05:00

Oh, Yeah. I ran a few road races last year also. The Winthrop July, 4 5K (22:40), the Stratham Fair 5.7 mi. race (44 min), the Lakeside Orchard 5K (23:05) and the yankee homecomming 5K(23:30 ish) with my sister, Heather and about literally 1800 other people. As usual, I ran off the start flying and then would later hit the wall. No experience and too much nerves!. Notice Heather looking happy and refreshed after a well run race and me, exhausted and barely able to stand. One of these days I learn to pace myself! I had a great time despite the pain (the Stratham Fair race was on a Saturday and this race was the following tuesday night. Ouch!) and I loved spending time with my siter and Mom who was there to cheer us on. I'm lucky to have such a loving and supportive family.

Photos by Cheech (AKA Cheryl).

MTB Madness!

2009-01-07T20:47:00.017-05:00

Cheryl. My biggest fan.

I have never felt pain like the kind I experienced racing at the Grill Z Mountain Bike Race in Georgetown Maine last September. What a challenge!

What the hell have I got myself into!!!

One lap to go!
Thanks for your support. Lets go home.

2007/08 Years In Review

2009-01-04T21:00:00.021-05:00

A few photos, all taken by Cheryl Howe Moore. My Blog prowess is in the early stages of evolution, but like the Theory of Punctuated Equlibrium (Oh, yeah, I'm a biology nerd as well), my skills will surge after a some undertermined time of stasis. I will not go into detail of the races some of these photos are taken from. Suffice to say, they were all epic , at least in my own mind.

Communting from my Mom's home in Stratham, NH to UNH for grad school, summer of 2008. Loaded down with a backpack full of clothes, lunch, 1/2 gallon of water and notebooks. Great power training! I was wicked fast after a month of this!

Mid Coast TT Sept 06

Belast TT, June 2008 with my make due speed suite of a Kona bib (thanks, Wheels!) and a KHS Under Armour T-shirt. It worked very well!Belast TT, June 2008 with my make due speed suite of a Kona bib (thanks, Wheels!) and a KHS Under Armour T-shirt. It worked very well!
The homemade speed suite worn by a nervous pre-race rider!

The Belfast TT, 2007. 15lbs heavier and no speed suite and nearly 3 minutes slower than in '08. Also notice my hand position in '07 compared t0 '08. I'm slowly learning how to cut wind drag!

More Belafast '08 Photos. Cheryl was having fun. Notice the tricked out TT bike in front of me as I wait for my start. HED disc wheel on a carbon Aeigis bike. A $4000 bike! My Scott Speedster with my upgrades: maybe $1800-$2000. I love it when I pass these bikes!

Some Backround

2009-01-01T16:26:00.003-05:00

May 5, 2006, Mid-Coast TT. Football Coach Meets Bike

I've created this blog to chronicle my passion for riding. I guess it's presumptive of me to think that anyone else would care about my riding and training exploits, but I know I'm not the only fanatic out there. So, if you want to check in with me to see what I 'm up to with my training this winter, share some of your thoughts and training experiences with me, or just want to peak into the life of a boarding school teacher obsessed with biking, please feel free. But first some background:

I'm a former college football lineman who, unitll a few years ago weighed 265lbs spread over my 6'3" body. Not quite bicycle friendly proportions. I had been schlepping myself around the roads and trails of Missoula, Montana and then Kents Hill, Maine with my football body. Every ride hurt. I mean HURT! There are no flats in central maine. Lots and lots of hills. In fact EVERY ride I do ends with a mile climb up to my home near the top of Kents Hill. Easy spin day? Finish in the red zone with a climb. Intervals? End in the redzone with a climb, tempo ride? Forgot zone 2 or 3. Finish in zone 4 or 5 with a climb. Recovery Rides? Forgot about it. Climb. So here I am riding my speacialized mountain bike in the granny gear having an argument in my head on EVERY ride whether I should stop, get off the bike and walk. It would happen every ride, these demons in my head, but I never, NEVER got off the bike. Then comes August 2005:
I finally have enough money to buy a decent road bike. A Scott Speedster. I ride a bit through the fall, but never really committ to big miles. Boarding school committments keep me off the bike just enough to keep me yearning for more. Winter comes and I hit the weights big time out of sheer habit. I'm not coaching, so I work out hard. By Febuary I'm a fairly lean (by big man standards) 265lbs, can squat 500lbs and can bench press 225lbs 21 times. I'm Jacked!
I win the KHS winter carnival tug o' war pretty much single handadly and then I come to a pathetic realization: My competitive fire has been reduced to a high school tug of war competition. I quit lifting weights the next day and ride the stationary bike at the YMCA six days a week. I make a goal of loosing 25 lbs by May 5, the Mid Coast Time Trial in Rockport. The winter is mild and I'm able to ride outside by spring break. The pounds start to shedd. May comes and I'm 240 lbs and I feel great. I finsh the TT and am elated. Now I m Hooked. I continue to ride and drop more weight. The upper body muscle mass goes first then some stuborn body fat. By mid summer I'm racing at 225-230 lbs. I do the second midcoast TT in septmeber and finishe 2:30 minutes faster than in May. October comes and I buy a Blakburn Trainer, a training book by Chris Carmichael (I figured he might know a thing or two) and hit it hard over the winter. My competition weight for '07 is now a consistent 220lbs and I'm at least two minutes faster in all my races. Fall of 2007 rolls around and I score a beautiful Kona Kula Primo mountain bike with the help of KHS colleague and pro mtb rider Todd Wheelden bikeracingwheels.blogspot.com and I race a couple of MTB races during the 2008 season and my competion weight is 210 lbs. I'm a thin man at last! Lean and healthy and getting faster. My body image changes and I embrace the idea of being an endurance athlete for the first time in my life. Now, it's not how much I can bench press, but how far and fast I can go on my bike. I am transformed and I love it!
2009 has me as excited as ever. I plan on focusing a bit more on the MTB races and to do a few more criteriums. But first, I must train. Time to clean the basement and dust off the trainer!