Pungo Death Ride

My wife actually talked me into doing a ride Tuesday. I think she said, "you know you only have like 5 weeks until THAT cross race you keep talking about." (referring to the IronCross).
So I hit the Tuesday niter. Good to see Fat Frogs well represented as well as the usual faces.
Used the IBike powermeter again. You'll see the speed go from 20 to 30 about 25 minutes into the ride for about 5 minutes then my speed go back to the low 20s. That's where I was OTB and rode the remainder of the ride with Kitchins and 2 other guys. Got the 35 miles in with some daylight left.



Started my running today for cross season and the Cape Henry Du. Now I remember why I took up biking and quit running.

What Was I Thinking?

Now that the race season is over for me, I decided to do "other" things with my Saturday mornings rather than hit the group ride. Also, I'm forcing myself for some time off the bike too. Fortunately there was a 3' swell going on so I threw the longboard on top and hit 79th street. (I came very close to packing the cx bike too just to do some runs at Seashore but I'm committed to taking time off)
Passed a few riders on Shore Dr and calculated I would have already had in 20-25 miles at this time on the group ride (at 0815).
Found a close spot on 79th and jumped in the water. There was a swell but the tide was still high and the direct E swell made for closeouts galore. A few nice sets rolled in and was able to catch some on the outside before they closed out.
About 1 hour of doing other things, I decided I had enough and packed up and headed home.
Around 1:00, I was having withdrawals and had to go for a ride. After all I had a good excuse, I was trying out a new toy Don let me demo. I finally had some time to put on the iBike Pro and give it a test run. I headed out to the Great Dismal Swamp trail for a quick spin.
What was I thinking? When I got to the trail, the heat was on.



I only did the out and back of 17 miles and that was enough. The heat was dreadful.

It took me awhile to get the iBike calibrated but finally got it working and was able to download my ride. Pretty cool stuff if I knew what "training with power" means. I'll need to do some reading in this offseason.

Look Who's 40

I can't remember alot of things today like project deadlines at work, first names of people I just met or laps left in a crit without peeking at the lapboard but I do remember the first time I ate a Big Mac 35 years ago. Now that the season is over I can enjoy one of these again. (But a Five Guys burger is much better)

Big Mac museum commemorates town's contribution to famous burger



Associated Press - August 22, 2007

IRWIN, Pa. (AP) - 1 of the world's most famous sandwiches is 40 years old today.

The Big Mac was first served on this date in 1967 at a McDonald's in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.
The 45-cent double burger on a triple bun was the invention of Jim Delligatti, 1 of McDonald's founder Ray Kroc's earliest franchisees. He's now 89.
It took Delligatti two years to persuade McDonald's to allow him to serve up the Big Mac. Today, 550 million Big Macs are sold annually in 100 different countries.
To mark the occasion, the Big Mac Museum Restaurant opened today in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, 40 miles north of where it all began.
The museum features the world's largest Big Mac -- 14 feet tall and 12 feet wide -- a bronze bust of Delligatti and a high-tech global Big Mac map.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press.

Final Season Races Wrap-Up

Headed into the final weekend of races (for me) with limited training the past 2 weeks. With out of state (WA) family in town and daily trips to the beaches with 6 kids didn't leave much time to ride. The only time I found was the 4 bike-commuting trips to downtown Norfolk during that time.

I had low-confidence in my fitness going into Saturday's CAT4 race at the Chesapeake Criterium. I had made the Tour de Port/Peake weekend my priority races so I was working back on my build to peak for the cross season.


Photo courtesy of http://pedalnaround.blogspot.com/.

It was nice to have teammates in a race. AAB managed to get 7 riders in the field. I started off in the second row and immediately fell to the middle-back of the pack. I know it's not the safest or the best position but I didn't know what to expect from my first CAT4 race. The pace was high (25 avg) but steady. There were a few attacks but nothing stuck. From the back, I would watch as helmets started to bob up and down and knew that the pace was picking up. Usually, the only time the field reacted was when Bender or Steven moved. There was one wreck where newly upgraded Devendish (KH Cycles) "slipped on a banana peel" as described by Mike Lirette and took down the Hokie rider. The majority of the race I usually stuck on Shawn's wheel. As we entered the bell lap, I was about 20th wheel going into the final turn. I managed to pick off a few people and tried to get back on my teammates wheels. I finished with a 14th while the team had 6 guys in the top 15.

As far as my fitness, maybe taking it easy the two weeks was helpful as I barely felt like I worked until the final lap.

On Sunday was the PLT #3. There were 15 guys in the CAT 4 race so I knew I had a top 15 finish. Tripower TurboTim was 3 mins behind me and wanted to get atleast to the Griddle n' Grits store before he passed me (last race with 2 min gap he passed me just around the turn onto Benefit). The wind was helping on the ride down Shilleleigh, Benenfit and Lake Drummond but would be in your face on Ballahack. Bunch 0' Nuts road wasn't as bad since it's mostly protected and the ride back up on Shilleleigh wasn't as bad as expected. I managed a PR of 57.39 (previous was 57:54). Not sure where that left me in the CAT4 results but most likely a 14th infront of the DNF guy. Congrats to Mike Lirette for beating TurboTim by 1 second. Mitch probably scored a top 5 with his run too. Chuck had a PR too. Rob put up a top 5 time in the CAT 5 race then threw on his running shoes to go run a bunch of miles.

There's still a chance I may run up to Richmond for the GFTL but we'll see. Right now my road season is done and looking forward to some fun Cross racing.

Chesapeake Crit CAT 4

My first CAT 4 Crit at the Chesapeake Criterium. Picked up a 14th place. Here are some pics of the race. Weekend write up tomorrow after the PLT Time Trial.

How Appropriate to Wear My Disco Kit Today

I wore my Disco kit on this mornings ride to celebrate the official break up today. Disco announce back earlier in the year that they would end their sponsorship.

Discovery gives up sponsor hunt

Rumour had Starbucks stepping up as a sponsor but that fell thru.
It will be intersting to see who signs with who. Big George is pretty much with T-Mobile. Will Slipstream have the money for Levi after signing DZ and Millar? Maybe Contador signs with a home team like Caisse d'Epargne?

Ebay Scam

Here's the latest ebay scam that I got in my inbox:



















Notice the url for the product - looks legit - http://cgi.ebay.com/...

Too bad that it redirects to a link http://luptat......dkfdi.pochta.ru/ that will cause all hell to break loose on your pc. The .ru is a java runtime extension. By clicking the link on the email, it will trigger some demons that will hide in your pc.

And how did the scammer know I was a big J. Depp fan?

Plus One

Finished my new commuter/cross pit bike build.


Motobecane Fantom Cross Frameset ($cheap)
Ultegra/Tiagra/Truvativ Components (take-offs)
Shown with cross tires (Schwalbe Marathons for commuting)

$250 total (w/ commuter tires)

1st CAT 4 Race

Entered the PLT TT #2 as a CAT 4. I looked at the age-graded category but the 40-44 field was stacked with some fast old guys that can TT. So I stuck in the 4s and was guarenteed a top 15 (as long as I finished since there were only 15 registered).
I debuted the new Zipp (used but new to me) and my dorky TT helmet.
The new equipment must have helped because I put in my PR for the course at 57:54 (previous was 1:00:38). Good enough for 13th - beating out my minute man by :30 and fellow AAB Jeff G.
It only took 1 mile onto the turn on Benefit for TriPower Tim to catch me (2 min) then Dr. Phil (aka Fat Frogs George) caught me close to the Grits n' Griddle store. I caught my minute man on Lake Drummond.

Yeah, my 1st BAR points as a 4! Looking at the results from the rest of the categories, my time would have got me an 11th in the CAT 5 (edging out JB who crushed me earlier at the Dismal Dash TT) and about 17th or 18th in the 40s.

Next race will be a double for me at the Chesapeake Crit in the Masters 40+ and CAT 4.

Look mom, I'm ranked.

Your USCF Individual Time Trial Cat 4 Standings

1 Rank in your zip code (233xx)
73 Rank in your state (VA)
49 Rank in your riding age (40)
235 Rank in 5 year age range (40-44)
352 Rank in 10 year age range (40-49)