West Branch Penobscott River Fishing Trip

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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