Stay Dirty

It's heating up

2010-06-25T19:39:00.003-05:00

Well, still no racing for me. The Gentleman's race got cancelled due to weather and I haven't had the time or the money to get away for any other races. That being said, however, I have stayed in the saddle the whole time. No real training though, but my base must be huge by now.

I quit the Emergency Room to work in the Cardiology Treatment and Recovery unit which was not only a pay raise, but day shifts. This works so much better with my class schedule as well as my racing schedule. Unless I work extra, I am off work by 9:30pm on Fridays which allows me to race weekends. It also gives me a consistent schedule to work with. Granted it is a very full schedule, but at least I can work with it.

So, that means that it is time to get focused on actual training instead of just maintaining a base fitness level. It also means that I get to watch what I eat a little better rather than just grabbing whatever I can. I have already taken off five pounds. I am also training for a marathon in December in Las Vegas. So I have to schedule runs with my rides. I have a plan for mileage each day with my runs and rides leading up to the race in December. We'll have to see how that works, though, as right now I have both my long runs and my long rides scheduled on the weekends.

The temps are really climbing. It's common to have heat indices of over 100 degrees most days. The race season is heating up too with the two biggest series' that Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee competes in coming up this weekend and the next with the Tour of KC and the Tour of Lawrence, respectively. I'll be racing in the Tour of KC, but not Lawrence. That's fourth of July weekend and I'll be at the lake!

I am looking forward to the Cliff Drive circuit race tomorrow. The Tour missed it last year because of construction and I heard that it is a really cool course. Then Sunday is the Power and Light Crit. This was a fun race last year with a course that suited me well. Steep and short climbs with sharp 90 degree turns, very cool. This will be my first whole year racing Cat 4 so I am not expecting too much especially since I haven't been doing any speed work this year. I figure that I'll just enjoy myself and get some more racing experience while using the races as a good hard workout.

The next races I have on my schedule are the Kansas State Games in Topeka in July and the Rapture in Misery 6/12 hour MTB race in August. I'd like to do more, but I am being realistic that with my schedule I might not be able to get anymore in.

That's it for now. Stay dirty my friends.

-Nate

New Season

2010-03-15T03:39:00.005-05:00

Well here we are. 2010 and a new season of racing. I didn't get any Cross racing in this last year as the funds didn't allow for a new bike, but that's ok. It seems to me that the cross season was a little hard on folks and some are feeling a little burnout when it comes to racing. Maybe that's just my perception, but anyway.

Until recently I have kept my rear on the saddle all winter which is good, but I have noticed my fitness falling off a little which is most likely due to a lack of riding at higher intensities. Most of the winter riding was just getting out and doing something and commuting. It was a long and wet winter. I don't/didn't mind the cold. That never really bothered me (until it got below zero), but the wet was just plain irritating; that is probably the best way I can put it. All that crap on the road, then on the bike and me. Washing the bike after every ride just to get it nasty again, uhggg. Yeah, irritating, without a doubt, irritating.

These last few weeks though my riding has been sporatic at best. I just started Paramedic school and that has really screwed with my schedule at work and life in general. My schedule wasn't really easy to fit riding in before and now it is even more so. I have been trying to find a rythmn with my schedule and how riding fits into that. I feel like I am getting there, but it is still a process. What really concerns me is how racing will fit into it. As it stands right now if we have races on Saturdays I am out. I work Friday nights and get off Saturdays at 7:30am. Sunday races are cool with me, but that may mean more mountain bike races and less road races. That's cool too though. I just wish I had the money to get my custom Curtlo hardtail ordered before this season, oh well.

I did race in the KC Street Cred series this year (I won that series two years ago), but that hardly counts as real racing. I got second this year and ended up winning a really cool PBR messenger bag from Chrome bags. Other than that my first race will be the MWI Gentlemen's Race coming up on the 20th of March. I guess it isn't even a "real" race seeing as how it isn't "sanctioned", but it is close enough for me. It's a team race in that your team's time on the clock doesn't stop until the last rider on your team crosses the line. Team Colavita/Parisi Coffee's team will be made up of myself, DanO, Britton, SteveV, Eric S., and Joe A. Joe, however, is healing from a knee injury so we'll have to go with one of our subs, but as of this writing I don't know who that'll be. I'm looking forward to this race a lot. Not only because it'll mark the beginning of the season for me, but mostly because I'm looking forward to racing with the team and working as a team. I've said it before as well as have others, but the real sense of team is probably the best thing about Colavita/Parisi.

Lastly, I just wanted to get your thoughts on this ad that I saw last month, as well as this month, in both Mountain Bike and Bicycling mags. Kinda pisses me off a little. I mean, I know it's an ad put out there by some agency that has no clue. Still, you slap IMBA's logo on the bottom and it seems like IMBA endorses this kind of trail usage. Yeah, I know, the name of my blog is Stay Dirty and one of my first posts has a pic of me covered head to toe in mud, but read the post and you'll understand that I don't condone nor enjoy that. What Subaru should have done was show the guy, the bike, and the car covered in dust and sweat rather than supper muddy trail destroying conditions. It just seems like it reinforces the 'ole "Mountain Dew" perception of mountain biking that we've been trying to get away from. Not to mention what a land manager might think after seeing this. *sigh*

That's all for now...Stay Dirty (just not muddy).

August Tour of KC

2009-08-13T00:13:00.006-05:00

This last Saturday and Sunday were the final Tour of KC races. The KCK Crit and the Overland Park Grand Prix respectively.

There seemed to be a general lack of enthusiasm for these races among the team, myself included. I'm not sure what it was with myself, but I think everyone else was looking forward to Cross season and treating these races as the last gasp of the road season. For me, however, these two races were only my 5th and 6th road races this season (ever actually). So, I can't really say I was "burnt out". Maybe I was drawing from the seeming apathy of my teammates or maybe the cancelling of the Cliff Drive Crit put a damper on the whole series.

Whatever the cause for my lack of enthusiasm I have thoroughly enjoyed the Tour of KC in general. It has been really cool to race in the downtown areas of some of the cities of the KC metro (Lee's Summit, KCMO, KCK and Overland Park) and promote those locations and businesses.

These two races were my first totally Cat 4 races after upgrading last month so I knew I'd have a bit of a learning curve. What was nice to find out though was that my fitness level was good enough to hold my own in both races, not good enough to win, but I felt adequately challenged by the field. The real issues were these:

I need to learn to get up front and stay up front, but not go out by myself. I expend too much energy in both the back of the pack and off the front. In the back there is much more sprinting then braking then sprinting and this wears on you. In the front, well, in the front you're doing all of the work. I have had both these issues this year.

Next I need to work on some speed work. I need to be able to sprint faster for longer. This will allow me to stay up front early on rather than try and make up distance and many times try and make up that gap by myself. This happened on Sunday. I spend 90% of the race essentially doing a time trial while trying to catch up to the lead group stuck in no-man's-land between the lead and the chase groups.

Finally, I need to put these two goals together with better mental work on the course. I know that I need to be in the front of the pack so that I can see what's going on and adjust accordingly, any splits in the pack that happen I need to be in the first group, I need to get to the front early and stay there and I need to have the sprinting ability to get there early and stay there. This also means more and better focus on warming up and getting my heart rate up just before the start of the race as well as getting a good position on the starting line. My first race and the only one I won I was on the line at the start rather than two or more rows back.

I didn't place in the money on either day. For some reason the results from Saturday don't have me listed at all. I finished somewhere around 16th I know, but I am not listed on the results. DanO was listed at 20th and I know I was in front of him at the finish. He went out and got the first prime which cooked him for the rest of the race. He ended up winning a sweat t-shirt for his effort, though!!! Sunday I finished 19th, by myself, in no-man's-land.

All-in-all, I had a good time if a little disappointing, but I have to remind myself that I am new to this road racing thing and I still have a lot to learn and a long way too go.

Cross season, here I come!

Stay Dirty!!

Sunflower State Games Road Race

2009-07-22T05:00:00.005-05:00

Wow, it sure is hard to catch back up with the pack when you're by yourself. I learned that the hard way on Sunday.

I was feeling really good before and during the race. I did the first breakaway with Rob from Team such and such. I raced with him at the Crit on Saturday as well as the Power and Light Crit where he came in third behind me. Rob just came up beside me and said, "Let's go." We went out at a pace that we weren't going to be able to hold, but that was fine. We were just looking to split the field a little and see who was out to race.

The course was a 16 mile loop. The first loop everything was going great. I felt good and the pace was one that I could hold all day if needed, while I was with the pack of course. It happened just after I had caught a solo breakaway. I moved back to the rear of the peloton to rest a little from the effort. I was making it a point not to spend to much time out front so that I didn't have a repeat of the day before. Just after moving to the back I heard something fall off my bike. I looked down in time to see that my second bottle cage (that I had just put on before I left for Topeka) had come partially off. The top bolt was gone. The cage then swung down and nearly got jammed in my crank. I spent about a minute trying to unscrew the other bolt with my fingers, but I finally had to just break it off. I spent the next 16 miles trying to catch back up to the group. I did a good job of bridging the distance, but I just didn't have quite enough to get all the way there. I did finish, but spent the rest of the race time-trialing. Below is a pic of me still trying to catch the peloton. This was the closest I had got and you can see the grimace on my face as I hammered the pedals, but to no avail. I even picked up a straggler, but dropped him about a mile later. Thanks to Lanterne Rouge for the pictures.

I think the cage bolts got loosened on the drive out to Topeka because they were tight when I left home. I had noticed that they were loose before the race, but I just tightened them with my fingers thinking it would be good enough. I should have just gone back to my car real quick and tightened them properly. Ah well.

Adam, Phil and I had some good after race grub at some cafe just down the road from Forbes Field. Nothing like a big greasy handmade burger after a hard race. Even though I didn't finish in the pack I felt much more whipped than I would have had I stayed with the group. Good workout even if the race didn't turn out well. Good times!

Stay Dirty.

Sunflower State Games Crit

2009-07-19T05:31:00.003-05:00

Went to Forbes Field in Topeka on Saturday for the Sunflower State Games Crit. The course was super-flat at 1.5 miles. There was a 15 mph headwind on the final stretch coming out of the North. It was an awesome day for racing with temps at 80 degrees and I was feeling great.

I went by myself to the race. My wife, Karen, was working and no one from the team was racing this weekend so I had little pressure to really go out and get a win. This was also my first race as a Cat 4 so I wanted to just go out and see what it would be like.

The race started and the pace for the first two laps was painfully slow. We'd just be leisurely riding along, hit a corner, sprint like mad out of the corner and then immediately slow to a crawl before the next corner. This was nothing like the Cat 5's at the Tour of KC. Those were fairly fast, seemingly, at the get go and we dropped a bunch of people as the race wore on. Today there wasn't any of that. The issue was that nobody wanted to do the pacing. No one would stay out front and take their turn.

After two laps of this crap, I got tired of sitting 10th wheel and decided to spend a little time out front seeing if we could get the speed up. When I went out front the pace did pick up and everyone was obviously feeling good as they hung onto my wheel and we went around the course. Me, not wanting to over work myself so early in the race, decided one lap pacing the pack was enough for now and I'd let someone else have a go. Share the work you know? Nothing doing. I'd pull off and wait for the next guy to take my spot, but no one would go. I wasn't about to be the dofus out front the entire race using all his energy just to hit the wall and get killed at the line. So I slowed way down and fell to the back of the peloton when someone finally HAD to take some time at the front.

This went on for the entire race. I was either doing all of the work at the front or I was sitting 15th wheel or so. I'd have to say I probably did 80% of the work this race. That may be a little over-estimate, but it sure didn't feel that way. In fact, everyone I talked to at the end of the race said the same thing. "Gee, you sure did a lot of the work there today." Gee, big guy, it was sure nice being on your wheel." Really?

No one went for a serious break and when someone did make a seeming attempt I went with them in hope of getting two or three of us out front, but once I caught them they just shut it down. I knew I wasn't fast or fit enough to hold a breakaway myself, I needed at least one other to come with me. Again, no one was wanting to put in any equal amount of effort today.

Well, that's how the race ended. The entire group, save for a few stragglers, hit the last corner all together and as usual I was first wheel which is not at all where I wanted to be. I was straight into the headwind and at the line five guys used my slipstream to slingshot around me to give me a sixth place finish. Sure wasn't a good finish for all the work I did.

All in all is was a good race. Low turnout though, but I had fun. I just wish that if people aren't going to step up and do some of their share of the work that I had the fitness and speed to just go away and stay away. Road Race on Sunday. Should be just as flat. 46 miles.

Stay Dirty.

VO2 Max results

2009-07-16T01:17:00.002-05:00

Well, this last Monday I did my last VO2 test for the study. I also got my results from both tests.

First off, that was the longest I've ever been in the TT position. To be honest, besides my SLR saddle not being too comfortable in that position, it really wasn't too bad. I figured it would be uncomfortable as heck, but I could see staying in that for long enough to race at TT.

Well, like I said, I got my results from both tests. Let's just say they weren't impressive by any means. They weren't bad and I don't really know what I was expecting, but I guess I was expecting me to be a little better than I was. I was just in the bottom half of what is considered an cycling athlete, ouch. I guess I have been out of race shape for so long that I thought my improvement was more than it really was.

I am in the best shape that I've been in since my second year in college, but when I really look back with honesty that isn't saying much. When I was running cross-country in high school I was in way better shape, in fact the best shape I have ever been in. I had let myself get out of that race shape so much during my college years that I thought I was closer to my best now than I really am. Granted I have never had a VO2 test done before, but I know that I could have performed better 10 years ago. Huh, as I write that I realise how silly that sounds. Most of us can say that no matter what shape we were or are in.

In reality this gives me more fuel to train even harder and be even better so that I can say that I am now in as good shape or more than I was in high school. Maybe a tall-order, but who says I can't shoot for the stars?

Stat Dirty.

Cat 4!

2009-07-08T02:45:00.002-05:00

My request for an upgrade was accepted so I am now offically a Cat 4 road racer.

Well there goes my first place finishes! Hah!

Stay Dirty

VO2 Max Test

2009-07-08T01:30:00.004-05:00

So, I got my first test in on Monday. I'll have two tests, one in the TT position and one on the hoods and I'll do them a week apart. It's a study that some of the team are participating in at KU Med to help out some friends. It looks at the effect of riding position on power output. What it is to me (while the study is interesting) is a chance to see where I'm at in a test that is pretty much the end-all test of fitness.

I did my first test on the hoods. Next Monday will be the TT position, not something I have a whole lot of experience with. It should be interesting.

I kind of thought that I would do a little better than I feel like I did. I figured I'd be able to hold out longer, but that's why you do the test. It was also a little weird trying to only breath through your mouth with a bite block and your nose pinched off. I also didn't know how much I'd drool all over my bike and the floor since I couldn't swallow.

It was a good experience though. Looking forward to how I do next week.

-Stay Dirty

Tour of KC

2009-07-01T01:47:00.011-05:00

Well, after my first road races this weekend I can say two things: I'm happy and I've learned a lot.

The Friday crit didn't have a Cat 5 category, but I still went to support the rest of the team and try and get a feel for what crits were all about. As I didn't race in this one the rest of the team has some good reviews to check out.

Friday was hot and Saturday wasn't any different. After the race on Friday the team went to the Sawmill just across from the course for some food and drink. Karen and I didn't stay too long as I wanted to get enough sleep for the race on Saturday. The Cat 5 race was at 4:30 and it was the first of the category races. Karen and I got to the course a little after 2:00. We had driven around the course the night before so I had a pretty good idea what to expect. It was relatively flat. The two longer sides of the rectangle made up the climb and decent of the .63 mile course. The start/finish was in the middle of the decent and the backside was the climb. This was a really good course for me. It was fairly fast with some good corners and the climb was perfect for really cranking some bigger gears.

I got registered, got my kit on and got the bike ready with about an hour and a half to go before the start. Karen and I found a good shady spot on the course in the beautiful downtown Lee's Summit and I left her to do some warming up, not too hard in that heat. While out riding I ran into both Phillip and Marcus who would be racing the fives with me so we got warmed up together. The time to race started to get closer so we made our way back to the start line. Once they opened up the course for pre-riding we got to get out and get a feel for the course. No real surprises here except for the pre-race jitters. It's been a little while since I've had those before, but it didn't take much to get rid of.

I started the race on the second row on the outside. I knew that I wanted to stay up front because my biggest fear was getting stuck and getting into a situation that I couldn't find a way out of. I was confident in my bike handling skills, not everyone else's. Without much chatter they blew the whistle and we were off. The pace wasn't really bad at all and the turns weren't nearly as hairy as I thought that they'd be with everyone else so close. It didn't take long for the groups to start forming. I did, however, find it hard to hang onto a wheel. The issue wasn't in keeping pace, it was in me feeling comfortable being that close to someone. Moving at race pace, however, I got a real feeling for how important that really was. It didn't take nearly as much effort to hang on to the group when you were right behind someone. This was something I was going to have to work at.

Luckily, I was fit enough to still hang close to the lead group without actually being right on the back wheel of someone. This got better throughout the race as I got a feel for it. There was a lot of learning going on in those first 5 laps or so. At lap 3 they called their first prime and Marcus went after it. I don't know why, but I went after him too. He got such a jump on the rest of the field and me that there wasn't any catching him, but it did put us way out in front. I knew that the pace we were moving at wasn't something that we could hold so I pretty quickly backed off and got swallowed back up. Marcus had spent all of his energy in that one prime and he fell back to 15th where he eventually finished. Our little breakaway had revealed one thing to me, I could easily pass everyone on the backside of the course up that incline with a little effort. After a little rest at the middle of the pack I started moving back up. Within two laps I had settled into sixth place and traded spots with the fifth and seventh place guys for a while.

By this time I knew exactly how I'd try and win this race. I knew that my fitness level and my current energy level would give me a great chance at top three or even a win. With eight laps to go I was in the perfect position to see and easily reach the front of the lead pack I was in should I need to. As the laps counted down I was expecting to see some attacks off the front, but no one ever went. It was my intention to pull every attack back so that we stayed as a group, but not to go out in front until the last possible moment. With three laps to go and still no attacks I decided to move up to third. I knew what was likely to happen. Everyone was waiting for one lap to go and then it was going to be an all-out sprint. I knew I had enough in the tank to sprint at full-speed for an entire lap. I didn't know what the guy who'd been driving most of the race had left, however, I was soon to find out.

With one lap to go I was in third position and I quickly moved into second. All my passing was done on the back side of the course on that small climb. Everyone picked up the pace into the first two corners and I made it a point to take them all at full speed and on the inside keeping them nice and short. Once we hit the climb I knew it was now or never. No one else was pulling away and I knew I could easily put distance on the entire field. I made it a point to stay in the same gear that I was in on the decline so that I could use that on the climb. The years of riding singlespeeds made that possible. It was here that I was most comfortable, besides, I didn't what to have happen to me what happened to the guy I was to pass on that climb. When I started my attack I was already in the big gear I wanted. When the leader noticed me coming around him on the climb I heard click, click, click real fast, but by the time he engaged the gears I was already one and a half lengths in front of him. I executed the next two turns cleanly and I wouldn't be caught. I crossed the line three seconds in front of the second place guy who was actually in sixth place when I started my attack. I had won my first road crit. Ended up with a $75 card to BikeSource, not too bad. This winning stuff is really cool I'll have to try and make it a habit.

Sunday was much cooler, but the course was very different from Saturday. The course was in downtown KCMO near the Power and Light district. The start/finish was at the top of a climb; there was a small dip just before turn one and an immediate steeper shorter climb before turn 2. After turn 2 the backside of the course had a nice downhill right into turn three. It was flat to turn 4, but it went immediately up the hill to the finish. The turns in this course were awesome. I had a great time hitting every one of them at speed. My new bike really moves and corners well and I often would put distance on people by cornering better than them.

The race started in interesting fashion. I got warmed up and headed to the start line with only a few laps of the fours left. With 5 laps to go in the fours the announcer called out that it would be one lap to go. They needed to clear the course for an ambulance to come take care of one of the crashed racers from earlier. This lead to a delay in us starting our race as the course remained closed until the ambulance left. Once the course was open they let us do one 'parade' lap before we lined up again.

I didn't get a good spot during the lineup. I was about three rows back and in the middle. Bad. I'll make it a point not to do that again. When the whistle was blown I was pretty quickly at the rear of the entire pack. It took me three laps to get warmed back up and seven laps to get back up to around sixth place. I hung out there for about four laps and then decided that the pace was a little slow so I went off the front with 10 laps to go. What I didn't know at the time, but I know now was that there was a guy who went way off the front around lap six while I was still climbing back from the crappy start. When I went off the front with 10 laps to go I assumed I was leading. It wasn't until about four laps to go that I heard the announcer calling out times and realized that he was calling out how far back I was from the leader. By the time I realized this I didn't have enough time to bring him back. I started somewhere around 18 seconds back and at the best I was able to bring it back to was eight seconds, but that was as close as I would get. I would cross the line 13 seconds off first for a second place finish in my second ever crit. Not bad, but I still feel had it not been for my rookie mistakes I could've had a great shot at winning that race.

I should've got a better start, then I may have seen the guy jump off the front and been able to bring him back. Dan told me later what my REAL rookie mistake was. The pace car. There was a pace car and I never saw the rear of it. If you don't see the pace car, you're not leading the race. Duh!! That's Bush League. You can bet I won't be making that mistake again!

All in all, I had a great weekend racing and had a great time being part of a team. I love cheering on my teammates and I do like having a cheering section too. It was also really nice hanging out after the races and talking shop. Team Colavita/Parisi is the first cycling team I've ever belonged to. Before, all of my racing had been solo. Being part of a team can't be beat in this sport and in my mind being a part of this team is the best.

Stay Dirty!

Green Smoothness

2009-06-17T05:09:00.007-05:00

Well, I may finally join the ranks of road racers. The sparseness of the MTB races in the area have lead me to pick up some races of the pavement variety. I haven't felt like traveling across Missouri to the St. Louis area for a race, which is where many of the MTB races have been lately. There is a race in Farmington, MO this Sunday (again-near St. Louis), but Father's Day weekend makes that kind of difficult to get away for.

Anyway, I purchased a Soma Smoothie frame from Volker Bicycles that Britton had ordered in for quite a steal. It is just like Dan O's, but bigger and a beautiful green.

I got the frame nearly two months ago I think. Building it has been slow with all of my other projects and honey-do's on the list. Last night, however, I finally got everything together. My maiden voyage was my normal commute to work which I noticed went by much faster than normal. Gears are an interesting thing, after all, this is the first geared bike that I have ridden in over six years.

So, enough rambling, let's get to the bike.

The frame is a Soma Smoothie with a really nice and clean Green, White and Black color scheme with a little chrome thrown in for accents. Up front we have an IRD Pegasus full carbon fork held to the frame by a white FSA headset and a Ritchey pro stem. The shifting comes from SRAM Rival Double Taps which control the SRAM Force RD and a Shimano Tiagra FD that I found in a box at the shop (the SRAM was on back-order). The drive train is made up of 175mm IRD Impala cranks with 34t and 50t rings. The rear cluster is a SRAM Red Power Dome 11t-22t 10-speed cassette. Connecting the gears is a SRAM 1090 hollow-pin chain. Power to the cranks comes courtisy of Crank Bros' Egg-Beaters. My connection to the pavement is assured with Maxxis 23c Detonators which are attached to Kinlin XR300 rims. The rims are laced to Shimano Dura Ace hubs via Sapim X-Ray spokes. The front is drilled 18-hole and laced radially. The rear is drilled 24 and laced 2 cross. The whole package is completed by where I sit my rear. The height is provided by a Thompson Elite seatpost with a Sella Italia SLR Gel Flow saddle up top. The saddle will likely change as this is the saddle that rides atop my SS commuter.

I haven't weighed this in yet, but when I do I'll post it up.

The ride was very nice and uneventful except for a slipping seatpost which isn't an uncommon issue I have come to learn. I have a few tricks up my sleeve to rectify the situation, however. Other than a few tweaks and such here and there I think we're good. Now all that's left is to see how she does at full speed.

Despite the inherent 'roadie-ness' of this post...Stay Dirty.

My FRS Trial

2009-05-22T01:42:00.005-05:00

"FRS's revolutionary blend of nutrients extends your body's natural energy, fueling you up when you need it while supporting your health over the long haul. There's no jittery felling or roller-coaster ride-just prolonged energy that helps keep you focused and fully charged."

"That energy comes form out secret weapon, quercetin, an antioxidant found in food like blueberries, apples and grapes. Its incredible ability to enhance your body's energy system is what keeps you felling energized longer. Add a host of essential vitamins and you're ready to tackle anything from minor workouts to a major marathon."
http://www.frs.com/science/frs-formula.html

That's the claim anyway.

You've probably seen their ads on cycling sites like Velonews.com. The ones with Mr. Armstrong pictured. "Tired of Being Tired?" Well, yeah. Isn't everyone? Well I pretty much ignore these ads and those like it. One night at work, however, I was really bored and thought that I'd check out their website. I read a little into it and I know a little about antioxidants so I was intrigued. Then I noticed that they have a 14 day free trial. Well not totally free, you have to pay for shipping ($3.95). Where they hope to get you is that you have to call to cancel the trial if you don't want to continue. Otherwise you end up getting auto-shipped (and auto-deducted from your CC) a month's supply for $50.84.

A month's supply is two 16 serving bottles of concentrate and two bags of chews. They recommend 2-3 servings per day. This can be the chews, the concentrate, the powder or any combination. They suggest that you start your morning with a glass of the concentrate, then in the afternoon you have two chews and then two more before exercise.

I have decided to give this supplement a shot. At the end of my trial I'll post up my conclusions and any findings I may have..found.
Stay Dirty.

God's Country

2009-05-13T04:39:00.006-05:00

So, God's Country. Well I guess I am a little behind. My first actual race of the season was nearly a month ago, I'm not really counting Bonebender as a race.

So, the week leading up to the duathlon at the Lawrence River Trails I was without my normal training equipment and regimen. This, of course, being my commuter road bike and my 20 mile a day commute. On my way to work I noticed some excessive sway/give in the bottom bracket of my early 80's Steel Centurion road bike. Once I arrived at work I found that this was not due to a bent BB spindle, like I'd hoped, but rather from a half inch crack in the lug at the bottom bracket. I'll have more info on this later.

So with my normal riding routine screwed up I switched my training to running during the week. This would serve me well at the duathlon, however, it was really too little and much too late.

I chose to do what I said I wouldn't do again and that was go out and have a few and a few more drinks the night before the race. I didn't get to bed until around 1:30am. So waking up in the morning was really fun with the little sleep I got, not to mention the hangover. Why do I do this? You need a good nights sleep and adequate hydration to truly have a good race and I know this. Ah well.

After waking up and attempting to rapidly replenish my fluids lost to alcohol Karen and I headed to Lawrence. I got registered and got the bike and me ready for the race. I set up my gear in the transition area and got the 411 from the racers meeting. At this point, 15 mins before the start, I wasn't really feeling any better than when I first woke up. I've raced on my bike hungover many times before, but I've never ran a race hungover. This would be new.

I'd never done a duathlon, but I have run and biked many races so I figured this would be similar. After all was said and done I decided that it was similar enough to be totally doable. It did take a little time to get a rhythm going once I got on the bike after the run, however. Other than that it wasn't bad at all. I felt fine after about the first half mile of the run so I don't think my poor preparation hurt me too bad, but it certainly didn't help.

I just have to work on my running if I am to do more of these. I spent the entire first lap of the bike part trying to pass people that had passed me during the run. I also need to work on being more aggressive in my passing. There were numerous times that I stayed back behind someone, or a group of someones, way too long because I was too cautious to pass. Granted, I saw some people passing a really bad times and places, I just have to find a happy medium. After all, it is a race and passing is part of racing so you have to take a few chances here and there if you want to win. Hopefully, though, I can get ahead enough at the beginning so that my passing and being passed is kept to a minimum.

It was a good race even if I was a little disappointed in my 11th place finish. My 20-29 class is pretty competitive, but I had hoped for top 10. Marcus kicked some butt with a 2nd place finish in the 20-29 class and 3rd overall. Congratulations Marcus.

Stay dirty.

Money for ERTA!

2009-04-23T02:48:00.002-05:00

Bonebender netted around $2,000 in donations to Earthriders Trails Association (ERTA). Awesome!

This is why I paid my $35 to "race" in the mud last weekend. Always a silver lining.

Stay Dirty.

-Nate

Smithville-3 ; Nate-0

2009-04-19T01:21:00.008-05:00

I raced Bonebender on Saturday and while it was nice to get my first race of the season under my belt and out of the way...I've got to say that it was honestly not a good time. While I can't really call it a race (as I was only able to ride about 20% of the time) I did push myself to finish (ie. carrying the mud laden bike). So there is something to be said for that.

I would never bad-mouth a promoter, as I know what it takes to put on a race/event. Fingers don't need to be pointed, but the promoter and the racers hopefully learned a lot.

The race today should never have been allowed to be run, at least maybe not without waiting a few hours to start. It rained too much and there was too much traffic (racers) for that trail in those conditions. The promoter should have not allowed us to be on those trails in those conditions. As racers, though, we should have known that when you drive in a downpour during your entire trip to the race that maybe you shouldn't be out there. I knew that, but I raced anyway and that was my mistake.

I feel for those racers whom this was their first race. I feel for the kid that chose to to skip his prom to drive from St. Louis to participate. Mostly, I feel for the volunteers and the hours that they'll have to put in to repair the damage we did. The money (any profit) will go back to ERTA to help the trails so I suppose that's something.

If you're going to race in similar conditions (I seriously hope you do not) the way to win the day would have been to ride very narrow tires with large widely spaced knobs. This way you increase your mud clearance, which is what killed most of the racers chances (me included) and the narrow tire can actually dig through the mud into harder dirt below. The wider spaced knobs help shed mud to keep the knobs doing their job. Oh, and racing a singlespeed also would help greatly in preventing the mechanical breakdown. At least I got one thing right.

All in all it was a learning experience. Albeit a lesson I learned nearly 8 years ago, but chose to ignore. I just hope others took away similar learning experiences. Oh, and, yes I did have one flat. For those in the know that's pretty good for me at Smithville.

Looking forward to less rain and mud and more dirt and good times in the future. Stay dirty.

-Nate Schotanus

Bone Bender postponed

2009-03-11T06:39:00.000-05:00

Bone Bender Postponed!
Well folks, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but this latest round of rain just put us over the top on soaking the trails and making them un-rideable for this coming weekend. Sorry but we will have to postpone the Bonebender MTB race until the scheduled make up date of April 18th comes around.
I am just as bummed as you are about this but the volunteers who build and maintain all these sweet trails will appreciate your respect of the trails by not wanting to damage them with a race in muddy conditions.
Thanks for your understanding and I look forward to seeing all of you at the Bonebender MTB race on April 18th!
John Harter,
Trail Manager Smithville Lake Trails