Single Speed

For years my race bike from college has been hanging in the garage. I didn’t want to sell it—it’s a limited edition ’96 Schwinn Homegrown with the Control Tech rear triangle—but the parts had worn out and I was riding for other manufacturers. So I decided it was time to build it into a single speed for training.

Thanks to Stan www.notubes.com and DeeJay and the boys at Arizona Cyclist for the advice and for building me up a sweet set of wheels—ENO hubs, Stan’s tubeless hoops, and beautiful work. Add to that some parts I had in the garage including the original White Industries crankset and bottom bracket and a Rock Shox Duke that was hanging for about 5 years. I took a set of Michelin XCR Dry2s I had hanging around, some Crank Brothers pedals, and a Fizik saddle. Oh, and the brakes from ’96 are on their last legs…new ones are on order. A new fork would be good, but it’s a beater.

I took it out this week to cruise on Fantasy Island. I’ve never ridden a single speed, and constantly found my thumb reaching for the shifters, but I had a blast. It was fun to cruise on a lightweight bike, not having to worry about shifting. Just ride. That’s what it’s all about. Sweet.

Dawn to Dusk Race Report

Sometimes you just have to get out and ride. Saturday was the Dawn to Dusk Mountain Bike Endurance Race. The plan was to ride beginning at official sunrise, or 7:19am and go until sunset at 5:20pm. I decided to do this as my first real endurance event, in my prep for the 24Hrs of Old Pueblo in February. I'm still not sure why I'm doing this. Frankly, it scares the daylights out of me. But I digress...

I show up early and got my area set up. I took over a plot of real estate and dumped my bag of extra clothing; a crate with bottles of Hammer Sustained Energy and HEED, Hammer Gels, and some electrolytes; my cooler with water, an extra hydration pack bladder and some backup food--Snickers, PB&J and Red Bull for when/if my body rejects the good stuff; and a spare wheelset. It looked strangely like a garage sale. I got my gear ready, warmed up, stretched, and hit the porta-johns. Ready.

Equipment: 2008 Cannondale Scalpel Carbon with Lefty Speed Carbon rolling on Stan's ZTR Olympics with Michelin XCR Dry2 (regular tires run tubeless thanks to Stan's juice), Crank Bros Egg Beaters. Diadora Team Racer shoes, Rudy Project Actyum helmet and Horus sunglasses. Zoot Cyclefit arm warmers. Chamois Butt'r. Huge Thanks!!!

Here's what went through my mind...

Start: It's 7:15am. Am I really going to ride until 5:30pm??? Goal: 6 laps. That'll be 94 miles. That's enough. Does it matter that my longest ride was 4hrs? How bad can it be? Just start out slow and ease off from there.

Lap 1: This ain't so bad. Just ease into it. Grrr...Why can no one ride in sand? Oh, no! This sand will suck on lap 6. This downhill is fun! What are all these water bars? They're huge! Stopped to fill bottles. Lap time 1:06; Cumulative time 1:06

Lap 2: Easy does it. Get in nutrition. These water bars are getting annoying. I like this track. It's good to be riding again! Stopped for water and new Hammer bottles. Lap 1:09; Cumulative 2:15

Lap 3: This is starting to hurt. What am I doing out here? I can go home and take a nap instead. Sun's getting high...sweet. Stopped to remove knee warmers and vest. 1:10; 3:25

Lap 4: I need food, real food. I also need to train...yup, training would help. Maybe I should take that up. What's up with these flipping water bars???? Stopped to grab a PB&J sammich for the road. 1:09; 4:34

Lap 5: The short break (2 mins) was nice. Just go steady. This saddle is starting to hurt. I wonder if I have another lap in me. Its great to be riding again...I could be on the couch in a cast again...nope, riding is good! Body need real food...stopped to fill bottles and grabbed a Red Bull. 1:11; 5:44

Lap 6: Crap, the guy who just passed me is solo also. That's it...I'm counting these friggin' water bars. There must be 100 of them per lap and they keep getting bigger. Stopped for a Snickers. One more lap...you can do it. 1:10; 6:55

Lap 7: Why do they put the transition area at the bottom of the long hill so you feel good and keep going??? 368 $%^ing water bars per lap?!?!!? What??? Why am I spending every daylight hour today on my bike? Oh yeah...because I can! (Euphoria setting in). Legs getting numb now. This is now my longest ride since the crash. Stopped for water and another Red Bull. 1:12; 8:07

Lap 8: Unless I go under 1:00, I won't make the cutoff for another lap...I'm ok with that. There's the guy who passed me earlier. See ya! Now don't make him think I'm about to fall off my bike from fatigue. These hills keep getting larger each lap, too. Water bar # 2920, 2921, 2922, ... Ah, the last hill. Halleluiah! Good, no one behind me. Smooth sailing. My longest ride ever. Sweet. 1:19; 9:26

Finish: Owwie. I want my mommy. I need a new lower back. And a new saddle. And butt.

Success: 11th of 52 solos. 8 laps; 125 miles. It's the longest ride I've ever done, and the longest amount of time I've been on a bike (for good reason). Only my Ironman races have been longer events. No mechanicals--every thing ran smooth and easy. Makes a huge difference. Lessons learned: I like this stuff! Bring Chapstick next time. I need to train.

It's good to be back on the bike. Thanks for supporting me in my adventures...all it takes is a touch of insanity to truly live!

Off-Road Triathlon Training Camp

For the last week I’ve been gearing up for my winter Off-Road Triathlon Training Camp held in Tucson, and I’m really getting excited. I’m partnering with XTERRA pro and coach Trevor Glavin as the other coach, and bringing in XTERRA Regional Champion Brian Barrett, Ironman swim champion and Kona qualifier Bill Daniell, and NORBA pro Jill Grasky to lend a hand.

The camp is going to be a blast. While the rest of the country creates pools of sweat under their Computrainer, it’ll be 60-70 degrees in Tucson. We’ll be riding among towering saguaro cacti, dodging the occasional javalina or coyote, and running the canyons Tucson is famous for. We’ll have an outdoor pool for our swim sessions including video swim stroke analysis, and as much technical riding, climbing, and twisting on the courses as you can take. Put that with a great group of people, great coaching staff, and great food, and you have a time in Tucson you won’t forget. Oh, and the training and knowledge learned will set your season on the right track.

I don’t run my camps as purely training camps. We learn a lot—we talk about stretching, strength training, core training, aerobic training, season set-up, building power, racing, recovery, injury prevention and rehab and a slew of other topics as much as the attending athletes desire. I know I don’t have all the answers, so I bring in the other coaches and pros to help out. And we have fun. Work hard, play hard.

This year's camp is also held in conjuction with TRIFEST. Show up a day or two early and attend the best expo, trade show, conference around, including some of the industry's top people speaking on everything you can think of. TRIFEST is like Interbike for the normal person, only completely triathlon-related! Campers get a discount to the conference.

If you’re interested in checking out this camp or any other I put on, go here. I guarantee you will gain confidence and fitness, learn a ton, and have fun here. Everything (except travel to Tucson and a few dinners) is included in the price. We've got some great sponsors signed on as well, so athletes won't go home empty handed!

And you can’t beat Tucson’s Mexican food!

Committed

I'm not sure if this means I am committed because I signed up, or I should be committed for signing up. I'm entered in the 24Hrs of Old Pueblo in Feb 2009. This race starts noon on Saturday, 14 Feb and finishes at noon on Sunday, between which I'll ride my Cannondale Scalpel mountain bike on the 16 mile loop course as much and I can (or desire to). Jill and some friends will be my support crew, and other friends and sponsors will be out to help here and there. Wish me luck. I've never done this before but am looking forward to it. If you've never ridden at night, give it a try. There's nothing like it.

Free at Last!

For those who haven't been up on the situation, I broke, no, shattered my leg in May of 2007 in a mountain bike crash. I was racing in the NORBA National XC race in Fontana and took a spill on a corner and my foot got trapped in the pedal, resulting in my toes pointing north and my knee pointing south. Not good in my book--generally on the bad side of the "Good-Bad" scale. Through the process I found a great surgeon and physical therapist, who, along with all the kings horses and all the king's men put me back together: 5 surgeries, 23 pins and screws, 2 plates, 4 infections, a picc line, one subsequent fracture, 15 pounds, and a partridge in a pear tree later I'm in one piece and training again. Good stuff.

My surgeon took a look at the x-rays the other day and came back with good news. I'm all clear. There's some nerve damage that will most likely be permanent that will bring some pain and soreness, and the ankle is still tight, but no the pain brings no damage. No more visits to my favorite surgeon! It's a bit sad, really...going to the surgeon's office got to be somewhat like Cheers. Everyone knew me...I'm not sure that's good.

Anyway, I'm out training and will be racing full-up again in 2009. First step will be the 24hrs of Old Pueblo. See you out there!

Brian