I love the fall. The colder weather suits my constitution just fine and the pressure of race season is off. This time around I’m not slowing down though. I’m training harder then ever – increasing the number of rides I’m doing a week and adding lots of miles. I’ve decided that for next season I’m going to give a go at racing longer races, so I’ve got to get my body used to being on my bike for a lot longer.

One of the things about the local races that I don’t like is the laps. So many of the courses are lap races – I feel dizzy doing repetitions of 5 mile loops. I so much prefer the races I get to do that are just one big loop, so I’m looking forward to racing some of the courses up at Michaux and later in the season doing the Shenandoah 100.

One new cool thing I’ve been doing is hitting the Saturday morning ride out of  Bicycle Therapy. Lee leads a really sweet ride out around the city limits. It’s usually a 3+ hour ride. Not too fast, not too slow with a good amount of climbing through the beautiful and winding roads out towards King of Prussia. The group of people that show up are really nice too. No attitude at all!

Another change I’m working on is getting myself a bike with some gears. All this added riding is definitely taking a toll on my legs. Is really difficult to do a recovery ride on a single speed when my local ride is Wissahickon. Even when riding easy, I’m forced to dig deep on some of the more technical climbs on my home trails. Adding a geared bike to the stable will certainly help with this. More to come on this soon, I hope.

So, I went out for a very easy run today. There wasn’t any milk for morning coffee and today I was scheduled for doing an easy 30 min jog, so I decided to get in a little run and get some milk.

I started off real easy and did a few laps on the cinder track up the road. Running off-road felt much better then on the street. I headed across the field, and started my way to get some milk. This required me to hit the pavement and my right knee started hurting! There is a definite burning pain in my knee when I run. I had a PT take a look at my knees last year and he suggested that some good stretching would go a long way to fixin’ me up. Guess it’s time to get serious about stretching too!

I wonder why stretching, which feels so good is so hard to get done?

- Later

Fall is starting to arrive here and with it cooler weather and some rain. It’s been a few weeks now since Bear Creek and I’ve been relaxing a lot more – letting my body recover from the racing and getting back to riding with my friends for fun.

It’s also a good time for me to clean the bike up real well. Fix those couple things I didn’t want to mess with during the season and put the rigid fork back on!

My buddy just got married and for his bachelor party we rode some really sweet trails at Walking Purchase Park. I’ve heard that the riding in the area was great, but this was my first time here. I’d highly recommend it if you like rocks and flowy single track! We also shot some guns and drank lots of beer. It was the best bachelor party ever! My friends are awesome.

I’m also thinking about putting a geared bike back together. I think it will be a nice change from single speeding all the time. I kind of forget what it’s like to shift gears. I’m just trying to decide if I should build up my old 29er (Specialized Stumpjumper) or my 3D Racing Rover XC which is awesome, but it’s got 26″ wheels and I haven’t been on those in a while.

The 2010 race season is coming to a close and what a year it’s been! I raced in two series this year; the Mid-Atlantic Super Series and the Bear Creek Series.

It is my first season racing Cat 1 Single Speed Open. I finished in 2nd place overall in the MASS and 3rd overall in the Bear Creek Series.

My 2010 season highlights:

• Tour de Tykes – Danville, PA : 2nd pl.
• Escape from Granogue – Mont Chanin, DE: 3rd pl.
• Fairhill Classic – Elkton, MD: 3rd pl.
• Rattling 50 (1/2 marathon): 1st pl. (Men’s Open)
• Guy’s Racing Neshaminy Classic, Neshaminy, PA: 2nd pl.
• Bear Creek Race #2, Macungie, PA: 2nd pl.
• MASS Final & Bear Creek Race #3, Macungie, PA: 3rd pl.

There are still a few races to go and of course it’s now ‘cross season. See you all on the trails!

Having one Bear Creek race under my belt for the season I felt a lot better about race #2. It was also my first race since I started working with my coach Chris Beck.

The week leading up to the race had me increasing my training volume; Something I wasn’t sure about. I was also able to get up to Bear Creek for a couple pre-rides on the new shorter course. This proved to be a huge help as I also worked out some good lines through some of the trickier sections of trail.

The start of the race was kinda funny. I’m used to a fast start, but this start was the total opposite. Everyone just kinda rolled off the line like it was a group ride. I was fired up and after about 30 seconds of rollin’ this way, I was like “what am I waiting for?” and started the racing.

Dan Bannora grabbed my wheel (as I expected) and Matt Morrison jumped on the train as well. I pulled pretty hard into the single track and kept the pressure up. Dan is a strong and fast rider and he didn’t have any trouble keeping up with me. We rode together for the first two laps. Dan pulling most of the way on the second lap. By the 4th lap we had put a good gap on all the chasers; that’s when Dan decided to drop me too. I rode the rest of the race pretty much alone.

Dan beat me by a few minutes and I had another couple minutes on 3rd place. It was a great race and definitely good for my confidence about the final race at Bear Creek.

I took a lot of time off this week. Last week’s race at Bear Creek left me completely wiped out and I think I rode maybe twice since then. Once on my road bike and a quick pre-ride of the course on Saturday with Carolyn Popovic from PAValleys.com who was getting a tour from one of the Guy’s racers.

Race day I was feeling good and rested – ready to give it everything I had. I really like the course at Neshaminy. I do a lot of my riding at Wissahickon in Philly and the trails here are similar, just more compact. Parts of it are like a BMX course, other areas are really rocky and off-camber. I always forget how technical the back side of the course is.

All the usual fast guys showed up for the race; Manny Caliz, Jason Koenig, Matt Morrison, and Joe Caruso. The weather was HOT and the start was fast! I got the hole shot with Manny on my wheel. We put a nice little gap on the rest of the field, and then he got past me. We rode together for a little while when Ben Anemone caught us and was looking for a pass. I haven’t raced Ben a lot, but I know he’s mainly a ‘cross racer. To me this meant he was going to go hard from the start, but likely not have the juice to keep going for 2 hours at that pace. I let him go, figuring he’d burn out.

I continued to ride, feeling pretty good, but I knew the fatigue from last week was still holding on. Nearing the end of the first lap I was joined by Jason, and together we caught and passed Ben who was slowing down a lot. Matt and Joe were not far behind. Both were having a good day. Jason was riding stronger then me and passed. He put a small gap on me, but didn’t get out of my sight until we were into the second lap.

From that point on, Matt, Joe and I pushed each other. I kept the lead for much of it, but Matt was looking for an opportunity to get an advantage and he kept the pressure very high. I lead this group through the start/finish each lap, but not by much. The little climb at the end proved to be an advantage for me since I am a pretty good climber, and gave me a spot to retake my position at the front.

On the 4th lap, Matt and Joe were determined to get me and they could see that I was starting to get tired. I was running 32/18 – usually a good ratio for me, but today it was proving to be a little taller than I wanted this far into the race; such is the life of a single speed racer. At about 2/3 of the way through the last lap, I gave up trying to keep them at bay and let them go. I needed a few seconds to regroup, get some real fuel in me and take a couple deep breaths.

Alone for the first time in the race, I relaxed a little and got back my rhythm. Before long I could hear Joe and Matt ahead. This pushed me to ride harder. The small break was what I needed and I’m glad I listened to my body. I knew we were close to the finish and this was my only chance. I rode as hard as I could. I didn’t think I had any chance of catching Jason, so this was a race for 3rd place.

Joe was first and I passed him feeling pretty good again. Matt wasn’t far ahead, but I knew he’d fight to keep me behind him. As I got closer, he rode harder. It was on a technical off-camber section just before a climb that I made my attack. I gave it 100% and made my pass. I kept riding as hard as I could. It was up a small climb and then the last loose rocky climb that I had used the past 2 laps to keep my position.

When I made that turn, I was completely surprised to see Jason pushing his bike up the hill. He had a small puncture and was losing air making it really hard to ride. I only felt a little bad as I passed him and pushed on to finish in 2nd place.

Matt, Manny and Me