So, there was cross-country skiing to be had in Vermont today. Its not even Halloween yet (its tomorrow) and we were skiing.
7:45AM - I swung by the UVM dorms and picked up one Paul Smith and we hopped on I-89 south to meet up with Eli Enman down at the Richmond park-and-ride. We parked and rode in Eli's sweet bio-diesel further down 89 to the Waterbury/Stowe exit and headed north on 100 and then did the shake and bake, left-right-left, through Moscow-by Stowe HS-and onto the Mountain Rd. **Take that! Stowe Village Traffic**
8:45AM - We decided to pass on skiing the Stowe toll-road and go right for the Notch Rd. The Notch Rd. is Rt-108 and is closed between Stowe Resort and Smuggler's Notch Resort once the snow flies. The old Stowe Road Race, something I've just heard legend and lore of, used to go up and over the notch. We drove right up to the end of the plowed road and parked. The UVM ski team van was there and Fritz and Jurgen were sitting inside the van, doing who knows what. We talked to them for a moment, then geared up, slapped down the skis, and got going.
9:00AM - We chose to just use waxless classic skis...light touring skis. I'm not going to lie and tell you it was midwinter perfect skiing, but it was real skiing. The road was completely covered, and we weren't stepping over water or rocks every 10 feet. We kicked and glided our way up the notch and passed UVM skiers heading the other direction - including Ryan Kerrigan, who racked up an impressive win at the recent Brandon Gap time trial. I'm picking Ryan to do something real good on skis this winter. He's been working real hard at it for a while now - and I think its time he shines through.
9:30AM - As we started to climb further up the notch we saw UVM assistant coach Pat Weaver coming towards us. Pat was skiing clean-up - the caboose at the back of the of the UVM train. We stopped and talked to him for a few minutes. I think Pat was happy to see that Paul was out skiing with Eli and I. Paul didn't quite nab one of the UVM ski team spots this year (there were 17 guys for only 8 spots) and I think Pat really likes Paul - so he was happy to see that he was staying on top of his skiing and training.
10:30AM - We continued on, back and forth on the notch road for a total of about 1.5 hrs. On the way back to the car we passed the unstoppable force...the immoveable object...Trina Hosmer. She's in her early 60's...an Olympian back in the mid 1970's...and she's still pretty dang fast! And she's right there with the college kids chasing snow up high in the mountains.
11:00AM - When we got back to the car I asked Eli if he wanted to ski just a little more...and he said no, that he liked to keep the first few days of snow skiing in the real cold a bit short. It was really cold up there, and I thought to myself..."well, Eli's a lot more experienced than me, so why don't I go ahead and use his experience...and just do what he does." So, we called it a day, hopped into some dry clothes, and headed back to Burlington. I'd amazingly had some forethought earlier in the morning, and had picked up 3 cinnamon and sugar bagels from Bruegger's. We munched them down and listened to the entertaining radio political commentary on our way back north on I-89.
NextUp - A loosely planned, potentially bad idea, and a heck of a lot of fun - skate ski to the top of Mt. Mansfield and ski down on Saturday morning. Pictures for sure!
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Do you YouTube?
I do. YouTubing...or Tubin', as its known around these parts, is a favorite pastime of mine. Many an evening can be passed by bouncing from video to video and seeing where it takes you. Par for course, its often the journey that is more important than the final destination though.
Here are two gems my Tubin' journeys have brought me across lately:
Crazy Norwegian Strength
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoBZDpwfn50
and
Crazy 80's Cheese
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7L6MUUrTc&feature=related
For more technical inquiries into YouTubing techniques, skills, and related subjects I will direct questions to Colin Jaskiewicz at cjaskiewicz@gmail.com
Here are two gems my Tubin' journeys have brought me across lately:
Crazy Norwegian Strength
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoBZDpwfn50
and
Crazy 80's Cheese
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ7L6MUUrTc&feature=related
For more technical inquiries into YouTubing techniques, skills, and related subjects I will direct questions to Colin Jaskiewicz at cjaskiewicz@gmail.com
Friday, October 17, 2008
A New Deal
My legs are feeling better and better - but what's happening is now that my legs can actually go for a while on roller skis is I get to find out how weak my upper body is. I briefly attempted to double pole with Eli and Adam Terko today while they did an interval workout and it was not happening. Alas, good progress is being made and the training is happening and enjoyable.
Its fun getting out rollerskiing with other people - it definitely helped having someone to go with yesterday! It was raining, but Paul and I had made a plan...so we had to stick to it. We did about an hour and a half skate rollerski in the pouring rain. I wouldn't have done it without him, and he without me. (ps, thanks to my sister and Helen for letting me use their rollerskis)
Progress was made this week on making my 2 sport thing really happen. On my sisters suggestion I contacted Dorcas Wonsavage at Alpina Sports to see what they were doing in terms of a racing team. A couple e-mails shot back and forth and a good phone conversation and I sent in a contract to ski for their team. They used to have a pretty bang-up factory team back some years ago - my sister actually skied for them for a little bit...as did Eli's sister, Molly. Dorcas is getting the band back together, meaning getting an Alpina team back in the game, but its still more of a start-up team right now. That is good though, because I'm more of a start-up ski racer right now. It should be a good fit, and I'm really motivated to train hard and race fast for them!
Its amazing too, I've let Mike Sherry know about what I'm doing with skiing and he's ok with it, and I let Dorcas know what I'm doing with cycling and she's ok with it. I definitely appreciate that a ton! So, in the tradition of Jim Thorpe, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Carl Swenson - we have a 2 sport athlete on our hands. Which isn't really special anymore now there there is that whole "triathlon" thing going around.
Its fun getting out rollerskiing with other people - it definitely helped having someone to go with yesterday! It was raining, but Paul and I had made a plan...so we had to stick to it. We did about an hour and a half skate rollerski in the pouring rain. I wouldn't have done it without him, and he without me. (ps, thanks to my sister and Helen for letting me use their rollerskis)
Progress was made this week on making my 2 sport thing really happen. On my sisters suggestion I contacted Dorcas Wonsavage at Alpina Sports to see what they were doing in terms of a racing team. A couple e-mails shot back and forth and a good phone conversation and I sent in a contract to ski for their team. They used to have a pretty bang-up factory team back some years ago - my sister actually skied for them for a little bit...as did Eli's sister, Molly. Dorcas is getting the band back together, meaning getting an Alpina team back in the game, but its still more of a start-up team right now. That is good though, because I'm more of a start-up ski racer right now. It should be a good fit, and I'm really motivated to train hard and race fast for them!
Its amazing too, I've let Mike Sherry know about what I'm doing with skiing and he's ok with it, and I let Dorcas know what I'm doing with cycling and she's ok with it. I definitely appreciate that a ton! So, in the tradition of Jim Thorpe, Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, and Carl Swenson - we have a 2 sport athlete on our hands. Which isn't really special anymore now there there is that whole "triathlon" thing going around.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Autumn soreness be gone!
I am currently going through the mildly annoying and slightly painful process of turning my very limited cycling legs into legs capable of doing things like mountain running, roller skiing, and weight lifting.
Cycling does very good things for general endurance and the specific strength of the pedaling motion. All the balancing muscles though go unused and the muscles loose their ability to do eccentric contractions. So, running down mountains and balancing on rollerskis put my legs in the hurt-box in a big way.
The last 2 days I've been hobbling down the stairs of the Skirack. People keep asking me if I'm injured. I'm not sure exactly how to answer them. At the moment I am basically incapacitated - however in a few days once the muscles have healed up - I'll be ready to go.
It is amazing how little it takes to put me in this condition directly after the cycling season. I went for a 40-45 minute classic rollerski Friday mid-day with Paul, Helen's brother. Very easy and controlled. Then, Friday late afternoon I did a hour to hour and a half mountain run/hike around Bolton Valley with my sister, Tremble, and some other cool kids. I got up Saturday morning and met Eli for a skate rollerski. We cruised at a medium pace for me - easy for him - and boom...It was all she wrote.
The air is starting to get getting colder, the leaves on the trees are falling, and it will be just another week or two before my legs have completed their annual migration.
Cycling does very good things for general endurance and the specific strength of the pedaling motion. All the balancing muscles though go unused and the muscles loose their ability to do eccentric contractions. So, running down mountains and balancing on rollerskis put my legs in the hurt-box in a big way.
The last 2 days I've been hobbling down the stairs of the Skirack. People keep asking me if I'm injured. I'm not sure exactly how to answer them. At the moment I am basically incapacitated - however in a few days once the muscles have healed up - I'll be ready to go.
It is amazing how little it takes to put me in this condition directly after the cycling season. I went for a 40-45 minute classic rollerski Friday mid-day with Paul, Helen's brother. Very easy and controlled. Then, Friday late afternoon I did a hour to hour and a half mountain run/hike around Bolton Valley with my sister, Tremble, and some other cool kids. I got up Saturday morning and met Eli for a skate rollerski. We cruised at a medium pace for me - easy for him - and boom...It was all she wrote.
The air is starting to get getting colder, the leaves on the trees are falling, and it will be just another week or two before my legs have completed their annual migration.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Ins and Outs
There are a lot of Ins and Outs going on right now (think Big Lebowski)...the elite amateur cycling scene in New England/Mid-Atlantic is going through all sorts of crazy changes right now. There is some seriously interesting stuff going on. Yeah, yeah, yeah...its small potatoes, nothing like Lance and Vino and all that crap...but its the scene I'm in and its pretty all over the place right now.
There are a bunch of teams that I've heard may not be around next year...Fiordifrutta, Kenda-Raleigh, Targetraining, Sakonnet, Rite-Aid. Pretty whacky stuff. I think a few guys will stop racing and many more are shuffling around trying to find new homes. The face of racing regionally is going to look a lot different. It will be cool seeing all the new rider combinations out on the road next year. I think several teams will get major reinforcements, there will be a couple new teams, and there will be a couple strong riders racing as solo acts.
I'm going to be wearing a new uniform myself next year. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it 100%...but I'm very excited at the same time, taking the next step for my cycling. It is pretty scary though, because the CCB club has come to mean so much to me. Its come to be a large part of my identity as a rider and a person. I love the other guys on the elite team (and all our wild adventures, funny misfortunes, and many successes), the multitude of masters riders (and all their encouragement and advice and racing tips), and especially Steve Pucci. There is a certain "je ne sais quoi" about Steve and the touch he has with his team and his riders. Steve very much stays out of the limelight and behind the scenes - but he's had a huge impact on me and many others. He is a director of few words, but when you do get an e-mail from Steve every word has a message and every message is significant. He (and Amos!) has instilled confidence and purpose in me and my racing. The most satisfying thing for me was having such a successful end of this season with CCB. We really came together as Blue Team and got ourselves on quite a hot streak.
I'm going to be racing next year with the Empire Cycling team out of New York City. After I won the GMSR crit this past year I decided I was going to race 2009 as a full-time bike racer. Interestingly, the seeds of me riding for Empire were actually sowed in the fall of 2004 at the Gloucester cyclocross race. It was my very first race as a CCB'er (I met Steve and stayed with him that weekend and he gave me a CCB skinsuit to race in). Steve was taking a chance on me and I deeply appreciate that and would like to think that it is a chance that's paid off for him. Well, I finished 2nd in the B race at Gloucester. After the finish they took the top 3 and put us inside a big tent to have drinks, get cleaned up, and ready for the podium. Gloucester that day was really windy and there are thousands of cyclocross fans screaming and announcers going crazy but inside that tent it somehow seemed quiet. I chatted with the other 2 guys and especially enjoyed talking to a guy from NYC named Mike Sherry. I could tell right away that Mike and I both enjoyed each other. Over the next couple years I would occasionally bump into Mike at the races and we always enjoyed a good chit-chat.
Mike started the Empire Cycling team in 2007 and has been working hard to make the team into a big-time program. He had a rider win the national TT championship this year and really gets the team to all the big races with tip-top support. I ended up only racing 6 days of the NRC calendar this year (Virginia and Toona getting cancelled had a big impact on us east coasters) - so I'm really looking forward to getting on the road more next year to throw down at the big-show races. I'll be turning 28 next year, which in the world of an amateur cyclist trying to become a professional is a majorly bad thing. Pro teams must have 1/2 their roster under the age of 28. So, if you're over 28, and you want to ride for a big-time pro team, you really need to be a proven racer that can win big-time races. There are a whole handful of riders on the bigger pro teams who are the same age as me that don't have contracts for next year. Because of all this, I really appreciate the opportunity Mike is giving me and am I'm going to make the most of it!
I'd also like to say that I love my girlfriend Helen because she can make awesome pizza and really good peanut butter cookies.
On a last side note, check out this interview with Mike Creed. He's got some pretty funny stuff to say about riders who blog. All true of course! It has made me think...so, you may start seeing some writing that actually has some thoughtful insight. Baby steps.
Snow is coming...get ready! I'm going to be doing some fall training this year with Eli Enman. Eli runs Sleepy Hollow and is one of Rossignol's big-gun national ski racers. He was the guy who came before me in high school...so, I was always chasing his ghost around the cross-country courses. I'm hoping that by training with him that some of his go-fast ski mojo will come my way. Either way, it should be fun, as he's great to get out and run and ski with.
There are a bunch of teams that I've heard may not be around next year...Fiordifrutta, Kenda-Raleigh, Targetraining, Sakonnet, Rite-Aid. Pretty whacky stuff. I think a few guys will stop racing and many more are shuffling around trying to find new homes. The face of racing regionally is going to look a lot different. It will be cool seeing all the new rider combinations out on the road next year. I think several teams will get major reinforcements, there will be a couple new teams, and there will be a couple strong riders racing as solo acts.
I'm going to be wearing a new uniform myself next year. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it 100%...but I'm very excited at the same time, taking the next step for my cycling. It is pretty scary though, because the CCB club has come to mean so much to me. Its come to be a large part of my identity as a rider and a person. I love the other guys on the elite team (and all our wild adventures, funny misfortunes, and many successes), the multitude of masters riders (and all their encouragement and advice and racing tips), and especially Steve Pucci. There is a certain "je ne sais quoi" about Steve and the touch he has with his team and his riders. Steve very much stays out of the limelight and behind the scenes - but he's had a huge impact on me and many others. He is a director of few words, but when you do get an e-mail from Steve every word has a message and every message is significant. He (and Amos!) has instilled confidence and purpose in me and my racing. The most satisfying thing for me was having such a successful end of this season with CCB. We really came together as Blue Team and got ourselves on quite a hot streak.
I'm going to be racing next year with the Empire Cycling team out of New York City. After I won the GMSR crit this past year I decided I was going to race 2009 as a full-time bike racer. Interestingly, the seeds of me riding for Empire were actually sowed in the fall of 2004 at the Gloucester cyclocross race. It was my very first race as a CCB'er (I met Steve and stayed with him that weekend and he gave me a CCB skinsuit to race in). Steve was taking a chance on me and I deeply appreciate that and would like to think that it is a chance that's paid off for him. Well, I finished 2nd in the B race at Gloucester. After the finish they took the top 3 and put us inside a big tent to have drinks, get cleaned up, and ready for the podium. Gloucester that day was really windy and there are thousands of cyclocross fans screaming and announcers going crazy but inside that tent it somehow seemed quiet. I chatted with the other 2 guys and especially enjoyed talking to a guy from NYC named Mike Sherry. I could tell right away that Mike and I both enjoyed each other. Over the next couple years I would occasionally bump into Mike at the races and we always enjoyed a good chit-chat.
Mike started the Empire Cycling team in 2007 and has been working hard to make the team into a big-time program. He had a rider win the national TT championship this year and really gets the team to all the big races with tip-top support. I ended up only racing 6 days of the NRC calendar this year (Virginia and Toona getting cancelled had a big impact on us east coasters) - so I'm really looking forward to getting on the road more next year to throw down at the big-show races. I'll be turning 28 next year, which in the world of an amateur cyclist trying to become a professional is a majorly bad thing. Pro teams must have 1/2 their roster under the age of 28. So, if you're over 28, and you want to ride for a big-time pro team, you really need to be a proven racer that can win big-time races. There are a whole handful of riders on the bigger pro teams who are the same age as me that don't have contracts for next year. Because of all this, I really appreciate the opportunity Mike is giving me and am I'm going to make the most of it!
I'd also like to say that I love my girlfriend Helen because she can make awesome pizza and really good peanut butter cookies.
On a last side note, check out this interview with Mike Creed. He's got some pretty funny stuff to say about riders who blog. All true of course! It has made me think...so, you may start seeing some writing that actually has some thoughtful insight. Baby steps.
Snow is coming...get ready! I'm going to be doing some fall training this year with Eli Enman. Eli runs Sleepy Hollow and is one of Rossignol's big-gun national ski racers. He was the guy who came before me in high school...so, I was always chasing his ghost around the cross-country courses. I'm hoping that by training with him that some of his go-fast ski mojo will come my way. Either way, it should be fun, as he's great to get out and run and ski with.
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