Scottish Wee Heavy

As the temps drop I have once again ventured back in to the realm of higher gravity brew. Such is the way of the world. As I try more and more different types of beer I am finding that I am partial to a good English Brown or any type of Scottish Ale. Union Jack knows his stuff, what can I say.

The Wee Heavy is a standard Scottish Ale at its core but it's trumped up a bit...kinda like the batch of New Old Ale I made a while back, which was a brown on steroids. I figured this would be a good beer for the holiday season and Thanxmas in particular. Oh man, Thanxmas? Can't wait. 7 years strong and I still get giddy every year around Sept when we start laying the ground work for yet another magical get together.

This batch is rocking a full on 12lbs of malt extract, which is about twice as much as many of the batches I make.

Power Burner


It was only a matter of time before manarea went recursive. Don't look at this for too long. Trying to comprehend the implications of this photo could make your head explode...kinda like this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA
I dare you to watch it.

*UPDATE*: And now for the Thanxmas Brew Beer Label Vote, brought to you by my section of Web Expressions. Vote for the one you want to see on your bottle of Thanxmas homebrew in the comments. I might actually look into getting the winner printed off and the bottles labeled in time for the big day.

The Millstone Grind NECS '09 #9

or #8 depending on how you look at it...#6 was rescheduled for later this month so maybe its #9 now? Who cares, I don't. Why am I even writing this?

Go ride Millstone, do it now. Do it often. Ride everything they have 4 times in a row, you won't regret it or maybe you will depending on your level of leg cramping, but I had a pretty awesome level of leg cramping and I still had a huge smile on my face and it was not a face cramp induced smile either.

http://www.millstonetrails.com/

I can't say enough about this place, these trails were everything I love about mountain biking. Challenging climbs, but doable (even SS, sorta). Lots of technical features. Ample flow. And plenty of spots to let the speed get a little crazy.

Enough horn tooting onward to the report. I went into this race with a little trepidation. Things hand't really been gelling since the NH100. I had some residual IT band issues that would act up about 5 miles into any ride and I was still trying to ditch a cold/allergy thing that I've had for a week or so now. Wasn't anticipating an awesome experience but I really wanted to check out these trails due to all the hype its been getting lately. Hype that is well deserved.

Hit the road early for the 2hr drive and got to the venue while the fog was still clinging to the valleys. Granite country in VT is gorgeous and it was a pretty cool scene with the fog and everything. I was actually starting to feel pretty good, I had done a lot of stretching and using heat to try and get the IT band back on terms and my lungs felt a lot better. Then they started blasting techno.

8:30am serene VT farm, fog, cows, really loud techno. Obviously this got me very pumped up. Perhaps it was our time in Canada this summer or just how ridiculous the whole situation was (so ridiculous I had to tweet about it) but I was ready to race. My mental game was ready to go...sickness didn't matter, leg would be fine, LETS DO THIS. I suited up still had lots of time to burn so I decided to get a quick pre-ride in. This got me even more pumped. Did maybe 3-4 miles of some of the sweetest singletrack I've ridden in a long time and could not wait to get the show on the road.

Got out of the gate sitting in 5-6th and pretty much stayed there all day. I rode in 6th for the 1st and half of the 2nd lap and then caught 5th (NH guy that I actually bought the fork from that is on my Kona). We were pretty similarly matched and leap frogged all day until the last lap when I ditched him at the feed station. Now to some highlights. 1st and 2nd lap were pretty uneventful. 3rd lap things started to get interesting. Cramps were setting in, they were managable at this point but fatigue was starting to set in pretty hard. I could start to tell the 'slop' was starting to show up in my lines...with almost catastrophic consequences.

Towards the end of the lap there was a sweet descent I believe called 'Switchback'. Three guesses why they call it that. Huge, techy in spots switchbacks at speed, awesome. One in particular was fairly hairy, largeish boulders and maybe 1-2 doable lines and if you screw it up you either fall into a boulder field or get thrown off into the woods down the fall line into trees and various other brush, probably getting impaled in the process. I had smoked this section laps 1 and 2 with a pretty sweet inside line that was relatively clean, not the best exit but it worked. For some reason (probably a brain cramp...everything else was cramping, why not my brain?) on lap 3 I figured I would try a high line...not really sure why, I had already found a good line and I wasnt trying to pass anyone but I tried it. Didn't work.

I tried to wiggle through a spot that was probably un-wigglable, maybe on a 26in bike but you'd still have to be a ninja. Made it half way and then my rear wheel hit the boulder and popped straight into the air. I am now doing a huge nollie down a steep switchback boulder field heading straight for the woods and certain doom. Last ditch, I push and throw all my weight back and let go of the brakes to try and get things centered again to get my wheel on the ground. It worked, but it actually worked too fast and now I have to try and get my weight back centered again and fast because there are more boulders coming. So I throw my weight forward...failing to ensure I had proper junk clearance over my seat. I basically thrust my crotchal region straight into the back of my saddle as hard as I could. Luckily I took the shot in the bladder I guess is the best way to put it and not to my business. But it still did not feel good. 10 second breather and I'm off again...gingerly.

Lap 4 was good because now the legs were really locking up. I had to find the exact riding position where I could still get some power without cramping. I was able to sort of figure it out but sometimes you just cant get in that position when you need to. These were pretty epic full leg cramps too. Quads, calves...if you've never had a muscle as big as the quad fully seize up on you I highly recommend it. It is hilarious. Especially when you attempt to get up a very short steep pitch and your left leg completely locks up (as in it will NOT bend probably not even with outside assistance). And then the momentum from your movement and your other leg still brings the cranks around, only problem is that leg isnt bending. Try and visualize what would happen if you were pedaling your bike and one of your legs couldn't bend. That's right, you get lifted off your bike and tip over into the woods.

Rest of the lap went better, took the right line in the switchbacks and pulled in around 3h:48m. Which I am very pumped about because my goal had been 4hrs.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/13234701

per usual, until Garmin figures out their correction algorithms, this data is basically all wrong. Distance...wrong. Elevation...probably wrong. Average Speed...wrong. Thanks Garmin!

I believe that time puts me in 5th of what was probably 8-10 starters, didn't get the best head count at the start. I am very pleased all around with my result...bested my goal, placed well, and I think I even beat some people I have never beat but I'll have to wait and see the official results when they post probably tomorrow. And all that with some phlegm and an angry IT band. Very pleased. Pleased enough to use an emoticon :)

http://www.efta.com/PDF/results/2009/millsg09-1.htm

Official Results. 5th of 7 finishers, I want to say there had to have been at least 1-2 DNF's in SS as well. A much more respectable time in the Expert field for me too, especially considering this was a longer format race and I was dealing with issues. Always nice to end the season on a stronger note.

Continued Intensity

Here we are barreling into the end of '09. My last few races are on the horizon and I'm starting to struggle to keep motivated, I'm getting over some sort of bug and am dealing with some repetitive stress injuries...yup its Sept. Just about every sport I consistently partake in requires a healthy dose of looking ahead down the trail to be successful. Being 'hardcore' is no different. To battle the end of season doldrums I have begun to start thinking about what it will be in '10 that makes my friends and family tell me I'm nuts.

This past year I have tried some longer distance MTB races. I had anticipated doing well in these events but that didn't entirely pan out. I felt like I managed things well considering I was new to the distances and the endurance is definitely there but getting/maintaining the high end performance to really be competitive at those events probably requires more intense training than I am really willing or have time to put in. So for now I have conquered those challenges, notched my belt and am thinking that I will table some of the 12/24hr stuff for a bit (unless I can actually convince some friends to throw down with me). The NH 100 was a whole nother beast that may or may not be tackled again depending on how my bike stable rounds out and the weather forecast going into the race. I have come to the rock solid conclusion that temps over 85 completely remove my ability to ride effectively.

Speaking of bike stable...I tried to sell some bikes and it didn't go that well. Probably part economy and part I build weird bikes that don't really appeal to a mainstream demographic so selling is a lot of work. So I have gone to plan B. I'm keeping the roadie (specifically for one of my new endeavors for '10, more on that later) and my old commuter will get a few modifications to make it a better more versatile ride. I'm going to refine the fit and maybe upgrade a few parts. Might even be a ride I could use at a race like the NH 100 or another less techy long distance off road event. Or maybe I'll actually try some off road touring, who knows. I hope to sell my 9 speed successfully, its a good build and if Shaun doesn't snag it I think I'll have more luck moving that ride. That moolah will either go towards an AT setup for this coming snow season or be put towards a nice new shiny single speed.

I have spent the last few years focusing specifically on cycling fitness which has been great, no regrets. I feel like I really took myself to a new level of cardiovascular fitness that I doubt I will ever lose at this point as long as I stay active. However at times I think back to when I was ski racing and doing more consistent dry land cross training and a lot of skiing and I feel like overall I was in better shape back then considering both strength and endurance and now that my heart is used to very prolonged harder efforts I want to get back to a more rounded fitness level.

So I have decided to try and get myself back into more of a multi-faceted fitness regime. Gonna start by getting back into the gym this winter to start building strength again, gonna earn more turns this winter (hopefully) to keep the cardio up, gonna try and start running (body part permitting...running and me haven't always gotten along), maybe even start swimming a bit...can you see where this is going?

Turns out Central NH has an amazing triathlon scene, probably due to all those lakes in the area. So the form of competition I will use to try and keep me motivated to stay rounded will be triathlons and duathlons. There are plenty in the area scattered across the whole season that will require less than 60mins of driving. Can't go wrong there. I'll probably start with sprint tri's (usually no more than .5 mile swim, 15-30mi on the bike, 3-6mi running) next year and see how things go...I'm still not 100% sure my body will take to all this yet. I have spent a long time thoroughly beating the crap out of myself and a bum shoulder could make swimming interesting and don't even get me started on the various joints in my legs and their interaction with running...only time will tell. But thats the plan...return from being a pure cyclist to more pure fitness. I'll still race single speed MTB here and there though, there are a few races that I love too much: Bear Brook, Pinnacle, etc.

Here is a tentative/possible race calendar for next year:

Black Bear Duathlon (Running / Biking) Waterville Valley, NH
Mooseman Tri Festival Alexandria, NH
Bear Brook Blast Off Allenstown, NH
The Pinnacle Newport, NH
Black Fly Tri Waterville Valley, NH
Top Notch Tri (MTB / Swim / Hike) Franconia, NH
NH 100?? Greenfield, NH
Timberman Short Course Tri Gilford, NH
Circle Tri Ashland, NH
The Contoocook Carry (Run / Paddle / Bike) Contoocook, NH
The Pinnacle Challenge (Run / MTB / Bike/ Run) Newport, NH

This list will obviously get narrowed down due to schedule constraints and reg fees, but look at all those choices I have! and all within no more than 1 hours drive. Gonna be a doozy in '10. Actually thats gonna be my campaign platform:

DOOZY IN '10

NH 100 (degrees)

I have waited a few days before writing this recap partly because I have been recovering for the past day and a half and partly because directly after the race I am always in a 'that was the worst thing ever' kind of mood and you have to let the 'race amnesia' set in.

For those who don't know, bike racing is inherently horrible. Every mtb racer has something missing in their brain that tells them that suffering like that is actually not that fun. We are reminded of this during a race but then forget it shortly after thanks to that amnesia...and we keep showing up week after week.

Directly after the NH 100 I was mentally battered, the second 30 miles of that course is demoralizing. Steep punchy climb after steep punchy climb, every time I thought it must be over and the rest is just a cruise to the finish I turned the corner to another 10-15% grade. That combined with the oppressive heat and I eventually just went into survival mode. Its hard to stay out of your head in situations like that and I was getting down on myself because my goals had been to do much better and I was falling far short of my target finishing time.

The numbers are all wrong (they advertise 7,000ft of climbing. where the hell are you getting that other 10,000ft garmin! COME ON!) but look at that elevation profile...I shudder every time I look at it. Shorter steep climbs; the bane of my existence. I would have done better if it was just one giant 62mi climb at 5% the whole way...all those 200-300yds at 10-15% from mile 45-50 over and over? not so much.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/11333676

And how about burning almost 7,000 calories? That's like 3.5 days worth of food for a normal person...burnt in 9 hours. Not really sure how I didn't just vaporize. News Flash: I don't weigh a lot.

In retrospect, my goal was a tad unrealistic. I think there have been some course changes so trying to base a goal off past finishing times didn't really work, and with the added heat I think everyone's time was probably about 1 hour or so off what it could have been. I still am not that pleased with my 8h:57m finishing time, some people beat me that I very typically beat but I can take solace in the fact that this course ruined a lot of people and finishing in and of itself was an accomplishment. All told about 20% of racers DNF'd. I also didn't finish last in Expert Senior II which was a pretty big surprise, I thought for sure I was gonna DFL...turns out I beat 2 other Experts. SCORE!

The race was organized expertly. Huge number of volunteers, course was marked very well and the aid stations were adequately spaced, well stocked and organized. Also got some cool swag just for participating...the standard t-shirt but also a custom pint glass full of stickers and other goodies. Unexpected and very cool.

Okay so there is the overview, now the details as best I can recollect, this will probably all be in the wrong order and completely not accurate. Dehydration does weird things to your memory, go figure:

We started off cruising on dirt roads and mostly flat doubletrack probably for the first 8 miles or so. With some railroad bed and a sketchy old bridge crossing with holes in it mixed in for good measure. Then some gradual climbing (which was actually suited to me and I passed some people here) up and around the side of Crotched Mountain Resort, followed by a sweet descent right down one of the ski trails.

Then we had to trudge along a sandy path for quite awhile that pretty much sucked. Nothing like riding in sand to just completely sap your energy and make you feel like you are going nowhere. After all that wonderful sand we hit a little bump called (I believe) Hedgehog Hill. Not very long but plenty steep. Just enough to kill any mental momentum you had going and remind you that this is not going to all be a cruise. Then they didn't waste any time in taking that loss of momentum and really driving it home.

The power line climb follows immediately after Hedgehog and while I have heard that Mike Broderick rode that section two years ago, he is a pro (literally) and in my opinion that section is basically unrideable. And completely exposed to the sun. I hauled my carcass over as best I could and went in to damage control for the following few miles.

Luckily we got a respite with a screamer descent on pavement where I almost hit 40mph but shortly after that we ducked back into the woods for a very steep wooded climb that sucked the wind right back out of my sails. The next 15-20 miles is where I slowly faded away into a shadow of my former somewhat fast bike rider self.

The terrain consisted of LOTS of climbs just long enough to prevent a sprint push to the top and too steep for me to sit and attempt to spin my 32-34 combo. By mile 40+ I needed a granny gear up front to spin grades above 7-8% the power just wasn't there in that heat. So I ended up sprinting as far as I could get before cramps began to set in and then hopped off and walked the rest...slowly. Rinse and repeat that sequence for a few hours. Somewhere in here I somehow got turned around for a short period (although I could have sworn I saw course arrows telling me I was going the right way) and rode head on into a group of 3 guys one of which I knew from Central NH riding. It was a very funny "Hey Jesse...Hey Kevin...you're going the wrong way...ok" exchange. I also rode through two 'puddles' that were knee deep on the bike and about 100ft long. Yeah frontier track!

Then as the epic slap to the face they threw in the biggest summit of the day in the last 10 miles. At this point I was pratically delerious and just laughing that I was still gaining vertical feet. Every injury I have amassed in my almost 28 years was back to haunt me at this point along with lots of other new pains. Luckily pain was just one of the things my brain wasn't really processing that well at this point. Last rest station was at the summit of the back side of Crotched Mtn. then we had 5 miles back down to the start/finish.

Thats about as best as I can remember it. At some point the only way to get through an ordeal like that is to turn the brain completely off and rely on muscle memory.

For any interested you can find pics and videos from years past here: http://www.hampshire100.com/

I would assume they might have this years pics posted soon? All told I'm glad I did it and can cross one more challenge off my list, any rider looking for a sufferfest should look no farther.

L'Canada? Oui s'il vous plaît

So this past weekend I had the pleasure of attending a bachelor party in Quebec. Ben is one of the early birds in the Zoo family to get hitched and his bach'fest has set an extremely high standard. I almost don't even really know where to begin but I think this post will focus more on the biking aspect of the trip, seeing as that is the primary focus of this blog and that most of the other things that happen at bachelor parties are not 'G' rated. Hi Mom!

We rented a "slopeside" condo at Mont St. Anne (about 30mins northeast of Quebec City) for the weekend to catch the World Cup MTB events and to get some riding in of our own. I had never been to a world cup or up that north into Canada so I was pretty pumped.

Watching the best downhillers in the world was pretty humbling. Those guys go stupid fast into extremely gnarly blind lines. Very fun to watch and I was actually able to snag a few decent shots with my walmart special pink camera. Never saw any crashes up close and personal though, oh well.

l'fast

The whole group was able to snag a ride on the cross country trails surrounding the mountain on Saturday and Dustin and I were the only troopers able to muster another ride on Sunday. To be honest I wasn't too impressed with their XC terrain. I was expecting a lot more but it seems like the resort focuses all their effort on their World Cup courses and I suppose I can't blame them. That is where all the money is for them. At best their XC is 80% double track and 20% single and in reality its probably more like 95% double and 5% single at least from what I could tell by the trails we rode.

But to their credit they really maxed out the available real estate and you can get very 'removed' on a ride and really get a cool adventure feel. Partially lost, partial exploration...nothing wrong with that but I was just expecting a bit more singletrack goodness. And dont get me wrong just because its double track does not mean it was all easy. Lots of climbing and some interesting steep/fast descending with loose rocks and some washout.

no earthly way of knowing...

derrrrr

l'huge

no one will hear you l'scream

it was hilarious how out in the middle of nowhere this hut was

We got a solid 14 miles or so on Saturday with aobut 4000ft of climbing

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9941464

and Dustin and I followed that up with another 14-15 on Sunday with another 4500ft of climbing

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/9941451

And for an interesting cross reference those two rides combined is almost exactly the distance and amount of climbing that I did in 6hrs at Pat's Peak this year.

So to sum it all up I can't think of the last time I jammed that many activities into an extended weekend. Very little sleep and all kinds of action. World Cup racing, big rides, big raves, historic cities with Euro appeal, epic clubs, and did I mention no sleep? L'Awesome.

Au Revoir!