And the Winter Season begins

Another Bolton Season opener is in the books. I managed a solid 6th place finish. My hope was for a top 5 to start the year - and I was close. The course was mucho hard. Start heading straight up World Cup loop - down onto Broadway and down around Teardrop - then back up Broadway, around the Pond - right into a second lap of the same (pain).

I definitely felt fit, but definitely felt sloppy. Eli took a solid win and looked good. I've got to get training with him more over the next couple weeks. Get the pain train moving in the right direction.

In International news, Tim Burke - from over in Saranac Lake - is the #1 ranked biathlete in the world currently...No big deal? Wrong! HUGE friggin' deal.

On the home front - I skied the new Salomon Equipe 10 skate skis for the first time. They glide very, very well. I definitely had more speed than most on the downhills. I hadn't really spent any time training on them yet though and forgot how different skis can handle differently. Climbing on them didn't feel quite natural until about 15 minute into my cool down. Lesson learned.

My sister (hostess), Helen (timing guru), and Damian Bolduc (club organizer) did an awesome job putting on the Bolton opener with all the other volunteers. An interesting sighting for me was seeing Matt White - of cyclocross fame - at the race. Matt and I have had many enjoyable battles on the road bikes, when I was with CCB and he was with FiordiFrutta. He was giving the nordic ski racing thing a go - had some equipment problems - but I hope I keep seeing him out there.

It was cool to see Stratton skier Skyler Davis win the opening Eastern Cup of the year up in Maine this weekend. It looks like he crushed the field in the skate sprint. We helped him get some boot issues worked out this fall at the Skirack for an ankle that was giving him trouble. Its good to see the boots are working - the lad is strong.

On the trainer, I've been mostly been rocking out to Grace Potter. That song Mastermind is awesome.

Get out and ski.

Fall Training - Smooth is the word

Hey gang - so the word I would use to best describe this past falls training is smooth. Things have actually gone very well - good weather, no injuries, and I have a good feeling going into the winter's x-c ski race season. The only bump was when I found out Alpina wasn't going to be supporting a ski team this season - but I was able to connect with Salomon and am really excited about racing with their new equipment. So, things stayed smooth. Salomon has actually created some ridiculous new boots in the S-lab Pro. Check 'em out.

The last race of the bike season was the Boston Criterium - where my teammate Clayton "Big-Show" Barrows went on a $100 bill vision-quest and won all sorts of money - which definitely made paying the bills in the fall a bit easier. So, once again, thanks Clayton! I'm riding again next year with Empire Cycling - and promised Clayton I'd finally make him some money.

After that race, I listened to Helen's sage advice and took a week completely devoid of exercise - as much as it pained me. It was a good choice though, and something I mistakenly didn't do last year. As a result I've had good energy and motivation this fall for training.

I've been basically doing the standard stuff - rollerskiing, running, strength exercises, and riding the bike. I've actually been able to ride more this fall because its been reasonably warm. I even made a pass over App Gap in November with Steve Francisco. With rollerskiing I've been mostly getting out a couple days a week with Eli Enman. I really enjoy training with Eli and hopefully I can race more with Eli this season (at the front of the pack, drilling it).

I was able to get together one weekend with my Alpina teammate from last year, David Cahill, for some great training. We did a time trial up Honey Hollow, which UVM uses, and that went very, very well. Helen and I are going to head out to Wisconsin this winter to race the Birkie and David (a Birkie vet) is helping us figure our travel and lodging arrangements, which I really appreciate.

The highlight of the fall training was easily Helen & Jake's Gourmet Training Camp at the Equinox Resort in Manchester, VT. Over the summer I had a good day at the Equinox Hill Climb and ended up winning. The winning prize was a full weekends stay and accommodation at the resort. Helen and I used the stay over Halloween weekend and we made the most of it - taking in some seriously plush rest and relaxation, but also some great long run/hike training in the mountains around Manchester. You'll be seeing me at more of the hillclimb races in 2010 that have bed and breakfast or resort/spa prizes. I'm a fan.

On the home front Helen and I were really able to get settled into our house in Winooski once the fall came around. The house is in a great location and is very comfortable now that everything is settled. We even hosted the famous "elastic waist band" dinner just last weekend - which strangely has become a who's-who of 20 and 30 something x-c ski people. So, needless to say lots of food was eaten and sizeable amount of beer and wine was enjoyed. Yay elastic waist bands.

Here's a smorgasbord of fall pictures..

Helen relaxing in the back room

The view from the top of Bromley
Oh, yeah - I did the Westford Turkey trot. Cruising with Binney Mitchell.
The view up the Lye Brook waterfall.

We were running all over the mountains.

Helen's Fitting

Just about 2 weeks ago Helen came down to the Skirack with her trusty Cannondale Caad5 road bike (named Brendon) and did some fitting with with Sean. Helen has had some feet and saddle issues that were similar but different from my troubles. She had saddle pressure - but it affected her by not allowing her hips to rotate forward. This would force her to point the nose of her saddle down and cause her to try and strain to sit upright to keep the pressure off of sensitive areas. Because the nose of her saddle was pointed down though, she had a lot of pressure on her hands and arms.

Helen has a pretty stable foot, unlike mine, so she doesn't need a lot of arch support. She has occasionally gotten numb toes though from riding. It hasn't been a major issue for her, but a regular minor annoyance.

The first thing Sean and Helen looked at was the saddle choice and positioning. Helen had her eye of a Specialized women's saddle called the Jett. Sean agreed it would be a good choice and helped her pick out the right width (saddle comes in 130mm, 143mm, 155mm widths). Helen went with the 143mm. She had been using a Selle Italia Flite Gel, with the nose angled way down. When they put the Jett saddle on, they put it flat and Helen's hips nicely rotated with no pressure or discomfort. Sean helped set the height and fore/aft positioning just right. Helen also got immediate improvement in her hands and arms because they were no longer having to support so much of her weight. She was actually able to rotate her handlebars down and have better positioning in all three handlebar positions (tops, flats, drops). Successes!

Sean then looked at Helen's knee tracking and asked her about the foot comfort. Upon looking at her feet and arches - he had her try the Specialized BG footbeds. Not the highly supportive green ones like I've been using, but the slightly lower arched blue ones. They still have metatarsal support though, which helped even out the pressure in Helen's shoes. Helen's knees naturally track pretty well, but the footbeds did actually help make them just perfect. Successes again.

Given that it is November, Helen is mostly running and strength training, but don't be surprised if you see a cute little girl on a green Cannondale saying hi and waving at you as she flies past you up a climb next summer.

Hot Tracks on the Trainer

So, its getting cold out and the time-change has happened - meaning its cold and dark - meaning its the time of the year where I start getting on the trainer. Unlike many, I don't mind the trainer that much. I've even been known to enjoy it. That's right, I used the "e" word in reference to the trainer - Enjoy.

This is all assuming one hugely important factor - some good tunes bumping. I am without Ipod myself - being a 90's guy and all - so, I'm at the mercy of Helen's Ipod. Thankfully, as I've explored it I've found mercy, some hot tracks, and some steady beats. Here are some I've been pedaling to lately:

Sam Sparro - Black and Gold

Beyonce - Crazy in Love

Judas Priest - You've Got Another Thing Coming

The Natural - The Natural

Shakira - Whenever, Wherever

Moby - In This World

What are you jamming out to?

Snow's ah comin'!

2 Unsolicited Endorsements

So, this past season I struggled with my position/comfort on the bike. I was sitting twisted and never pedaling quite with 100% efficiency or muscle use. Granted, I've been racing for a couple years now, and ought to be able to not have those sort of stupid problems. I had switched a lot of equipment though in moving to the Empire Cycling team - new pedals, new shoes, new frame, etc.

Well, now that the season is over I went into full tinkering mode. Late in the summer I saw two products that caught my attention that I wanted to try. Both of them would not have been products I would have sought out unless I randomly happened upon them. The first was the Specialized BG footbeds. These are the aftermarket footbeds that Specialized makes specific for cycling. I'd seen them before but had disregarded them because honestly at first sight they didn't look much different than a cheap stock insole. Compared to a Superfeet or Aline insole, which have a plastic body, the foam construction of the Specialized BG and its minimal heel looked cheap to me. Boy was I wrong.

Well, I started working at the Skirack again part time in mid-August and got a chance to put my foot on one of the Specialized Green insoles (most support) and was really surprised. The low heel and substantial metatarsal support has really helped my foot. Believe it or not, I'm pedaling without any cant shims for the first time in 4 years - I've found a footbed that supports my foot on its own. Also, my Northwave shoes - which I've liked all year (stiff soles/nice materials), but have battled with fit a little bit - they fit perfectly now. Couldn't be happier.

A couple weeks after seeing the footbeds I happened upon the WTB saddle. There was a Giant mt. bike that was in the service shopped getting worked on. The saddle on the bike caught my eye as an interesting shape. Later in the day, after the bike had gotten serviced, I went over and hopped on the bike to check out the seat. I was wearing jeans, and even so the saddle felt amazingly good. Certainly worlds better than my Arione even with my nice Northwave shorts. I didn't feel pressure anywhere undesirable and I didn't have to twist my hips to get myself stable on the seat.

I went home that night and hit the internet to get more info on this mystery seat. Its the WTB Silverado - a new model just a couple years ago. WTB is obviously focused as a mt. bike company, but it amazed me that I'd never seen this seat on any road bikes. Obviously some people have used it on their road bikes, but I'd never seen or heard of it myself, and I consider myself to be somewhat in the loop. So, WTB - MARKET THIS SADDLE BETTER!

I made a before and after trip to the ever enjoyable Eric and Andy up at Green Mt. Rehab to see what the Computrainer had to say about the equipment changes. For the same heart rate, 135bpm, I was up about 45-50 watts immediately. I love technology...but not as much as you, you see.

On a side note, I've gotten out roller skiing 3 days so far with Eli, and I've been using the BG footbeds in my nordic boots as well, and very happy using them there as well.

Quote of the Week

"I know its an unreasonable request - but Dad, my passion for skiing is unreasonable!"

-Overheard at the Skirack

Getting up to Speed

So the cycling season was starting off pretty good...I was riding well, for myself, in the early season. I'm usually slow compared to my contemporaries for a month or two - the skiing fitness translates, but not immediately. I was racing well though; got 2nd to Adam Myserson at a training series race, and then 11th at the Marblehead Circuit race the next day.

The next weekend I was down in Northampton, MA for some family Easter festivities and I decided to head down on Saturday morning to a crit at Ninigret Park in RI. Long story short, it was raining and in the low-40's and just over halfway in someone crashed hard right in front of me - so I fell off my bike as well. I really try to avoid falling off my bike, because I don't like it. I'm not sure if its possible for me to like it any less than anyone else...but I really really don't like it. I got some good scrapes and some bruising on my right knee.

The reason I was racing was because the Tour of the Battenkill was the weekend following (this past weekend) and I wanted to get one more race in before hand. Well, that turned out to be a bad idea. I ended up limping around all week and riding just a little bit. I hoped for the best and headed down to the race on Sunday morning. 124 miles on a pretty hard course with a pretty competitive field.

Empire had a crack-squad of aces for this race. Margarita, Geronimo, Big-Show, DZ, Mathis, E-Rock, MJ, Minturn, and myself. DZ ended up being the best rider for the team on the day, and in retrospect we should have been doing more to help him. For me the race went into survival mode pretty quick - as guys were getting flats, crashing, and getting dropped right from the gun. With my right knee being a little funny, I could tell I wasn't pedaling quite right, but it was ok enough to get through some tough spots and even engage in some race aggression as we entered the race's 2nd of 2 laps.

In the end, the team road well, loosing just 2 riders (to flats, not getting dropped or pulling out) so we finished 7 out of 9 riders, in a field of about 160, that only saw 61 finish. That said, our top rider was only 25th of so. It is a start, and we will continue to do better, until we're winning these things. Personally, I came apart at about 100 miles and started to cramp - and I think the Advil I'd taken before the race started to wear off, because I could feel the "funniness" in my right knee. I road it in, and finished about 26 minutes down on the winner. I must say, Scott Nydam, who won the race, was off the front the entire day...with one other rider, and then by himself. That's some riding.

Also, a wild jackalope stole all of my race food out of my jersey pockets, my brakes were rubbing the whole time, I'd only gotten 45 minutes of sleep the night before, I was accidentally riding Will Dugan's cyclocross bike, and I was carrying a big photographers camera around my neck because I was shooting a photo special for Men's Journal.

Here's a picture from the race. The picture's full descipition should read "Tom Zirbel (Team Bissell) had a flat at the worse possible time - while in the middle of an Empire sandwich." I know what you're thinking; technically it'd be a Zirbel sandwich on Empire bread...but just go with it.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos.php?id=/photos/2009/apr09/battenkill09/battenkill092/17

For those who missed it.

Here is the ad run in the Seven Days "sex issue" by the Skirack a little while back. Will, the Skirack marketing guy, sent the ad in as a black and white...the folks at Seven Days saw it, and decided it was worthy of a free upgrade to color. I will merely take credit for having the mustache and tan lines...Will was the creative genious behind the ad.

This weeks Seven-days

Hey, pick up a copy of this weeks Seven-Days when it comes out tomorrow. Its the annual "sex" issue...and I heard there might be an interested ad running in there. Just check it out...and let me know if you see anything...

A Trip to Canada and the Stowe Derby

First, I will say that there will be a round of pictures coming soon pertaining to the previous posts raving discussion of my new footbeds. I had said that I hoped my results could start backing up some of the things I was saying...and I think they have.

Last weekend Helen and I made the drive up to Ottowa - just about 4 hours from Burlington - for the Keskinada. The "Keski" is Canada's biggest distance race. They make a weekend of it, having 3 different classic distances Saturday and 3 different skate distances Sunday, including the main event 53km skate race that I was there for. All combined there are thousands of skiers and lots of countries represented - its a pretty cool scene.

To top it all off, the best winter festival going - "Winterlude" - is going on with canal skating, food, ice slides, music, snow sculptures, etc etc etc. Helen and I went up on Saturday - which was Valentines Day - which is, more importantly, Helen's Birthday. We went over to race registration and met up with an Alpina teammate David Cahill. David lives over by Alpina and had smuggled a pair of Alpina TCS 45 regular width boots into Canada for me to try out. With all that footbed shenanigans my size 44 narrow width boots were far to tight. The size 45 boots fit well, and I would go as far as to say my gloves now fit like my boots. Helen and I then went out to dinner at a great Thai restaurant and walked around the Winterlude celebrations before crashing to bed.

The race itself went as well as I could have hoped. The course is very wide and it was really well groomed. The start was fast, but I felt relaxed having done so many short-fast races this year. I maintained my position up front and once a couple extended climbs came I made the first couple splits. A group of about 8 skied for about 20 km before I came undone from the group. I got gapped and fought hard for about 5-6 km to get back to the group, but I just couldn't. The group had been skiing fast together though, so I was a ways up the trail from the next group. I eventually settled into my own rythme and made sure to slurp some Gu and drink water. I skied steady to the finish and moved by one other guy who came off the group - so I finished 7th. It turned out to be a screaming fast day - I was 5 minutes behind the winner, a very strong looking skier from Germany - and still skied 2:13, which when I did the math, came out to about 12:35 per 5k.

I rested up the days following that race and then did a hard race on Wednesday at the Sleepy Hollow Wednesday night series. Sam Morse, who is a biathlete with the Army National Guard, has come to a couple Wednesday nights this year (and he was at the Keski as well...getting 4th!). We skied together and had a great dual this past Wednesday night.

Then this weekend was a big couple goals for the winter. The Silver Fox Trot 10k skate race in Hanover on Saturday and the Stowe Derby on Sunday. The race in Hanover was solid. The course was skiing much faster than last year and I placed pretty similarly. It always amazes and encourages me to see how many darn fast skiers there are at the Eastern Cups. Although I was a couple places further behind where I was last year, I feel like I'm increasing in fitness right now unlike last year where I put everything I had into the eastern cup and petered out after that.

Today was the Derby and it was by far my most eventful Derby yet. It involved a restless night's sleep the night before, my first (and it was high speed) crash in the Derby, my second (high speed again) crash in the Derby, and then finally my first ever win in the Derby. I must say this, I am really starting to love the Peltonen Supra racing skate skis I have. They are always fast and today they were at times, too fast for me. The decent was powdery and 2 times I approached corners with way to much speed and caught a edge of my tip and wiped out. The first time I went off the trail and got my skis tied up in the trees and then the second time the quick release from my pole strap and handle released when I crashed and I had to scoot back up the trail to retrieve it and put it back together.

After the second crash I had to clean snow out of my sunglasses, take a deep breath, and get going again. When I did get going again I had two straight downhill stretches without super sharp turns to point the Peltonens straight and let them claw me back into the race. They did, and by the time we reached the Stowe touring center I could see in front of me the two racers from the heat after me who had caught and passed me and Marc Gilberston in the distance who was catching up to the leaders of our heat.

In the Derby its hard to know exactly how you're going to react once the climbing starts and today my body reacted well. Before I knew it I'd caught back up with Marc, and he, Jon Arne, and I skied away from the others. The three of us skied the rest of the way together until with about 1k to go I was able to accelerate and create some space between myself and them. We finished and I started praying that no skier in a later wave would ski faster. I miraculously lucked out, and no skier did, although Reid Greenburg, another Alpina skier, skied really well. Middlebury and Dartmouth also each had a skier who skied fast as well.

The best part of the Derby, by far, is talking with everybody else after its over about what this corner was like for them, or when they passed that guy or gal, or what wax they used, or how they did compared to their buddy. For such a relatively short race (19km) its got a heck of a lot of character...its like the Danny Devito of ski races....and you can quote me on that.

Forefoot Mania

As you may or may not know I've battled with all sorts of injuries...for a long time. And some "new shit" has come to light and it looks like I may, at long last, have my solution. The answer it turns out was, literally, under my nose the entire time. To fully explain...lets go back in time a little.....(insert Wayne's World "didley-oo" noises)

I came into high school and started doing "repetitive motion" sports...things like running and skiing and biking and found that I was pretty good at "repeating motions" compared to the other kids. I rose up through the VT high school ranks quickly and by the end of my sophomore year was 2nd in the state for the mile - and my first year skiing, my junior year, I advanced from falling over just looking at a pair of skis to finishing 8th overall in the state. I trained for a couple weeks that summer on a bike and got 2nd in a junior mt. bike race.

Then, something happened. At the end of the summer between my junior and senior year in high school all of a sudden I was injured. I was at a running camp in Rhode Island and one minute I was in the best shape of my life, up to that point, and doing plyo's and the next minute my calves were...for lack of a better word, ripped. That senior year in high school everything went wrong, I basically had a walking limp...I called it "leg-idous". I went from injury to injury and found that I couldn't run or ski the same way I had before.

I got into college and had to baby myself through a year and a half of running before I realized how little I could train without hurting myself...about 20-25 miles a week...with LOTS of stretching and strength training. I was running faster, finally, but only because I was keeping myself away from serious injuries by hardly running any distance at all. Why was this all I could handle...

I bombed out of school, the track team got cut, and I left to live and travel in Asia for a year.

I came back and decided to make my fame and fortune in cycling...which I had always thought would be my calling. My first couple seasons I had some pretty serious ups and downs. But, over the last couple years I've been able to become a more consistent rider. What changed was that I started using "LeWedges". Also known as cleat shims they cant the shoe at an angle in relation to the cleat. I started using them and things got better...not great, but better.

I've always sat pretty heavily to one side of the bike (basically, not squarely in the center of the seat). When I first visited Green Mountain Rehab, only a couple weeks after getting 3rd in the Burlington Crit, the computrainer revealed my power output was coming out 60% from my left leg and 40% from my right leg. And as I've done more and more miles I've realized my muscle development is not equal between my two legs...again...why? To make pedaling comfortable for me to climb I had to use 6 Lewedges on my left leg and 7 on the right.

I've gotten back into cross country ski racing over the last few winters, and this season have decided to put more into it and started the season with hopeful ambitions for both classic and skate racing. It soon became quite apparent that my classic racing was going nowhere. I simply couldn't use my legs climbing. Doing intervals in the fall with Eli, classic striding was the only thing I could keep up with him doing. Why couldn't I climb on classic skis on snow?...why?

I did a classic time trial, almost a month ago now, with some skiers from UVM and Middlebury. I raced really hard, but I got stomped. Infact, I raced so hard that I couldn't move my right leg the next day. The area around my hip flexor on my right leg had hardly any muscle there and the little muscle that was there was so strained I couldn't walk straight up stairs for a couple days. That really pissed me of. I'd been putting a lot into skiing and things were just getting worse.

Then, later that same week, like dream come true, the answer came and dropped into my hands. A guy I used to ski with in high school came into the Skirack with some new bike shoes that he'd gotten. He was having some trouble with some pressure on his foot, near where the buckle was located on the side of the shoe. I took out the insole of the shoe, to have a look inside the shoe, and a little plastic piece came bouncing out. He told me someone who helped fit him to his bicycle had put it inside of his shoes, and that it was called a "forefoot" wedge.

Over the course of that afternoon the image of that forefoot wedge stayed in my head...until, at about 4 o'clock, like a ray of light, everything clicked...and it all made sense. My forefoot needed support...basically, if my ankle is aligned with my knee then the inside of my forefoot (the ball of the foot) is raised in relation to the outside of my foot. So, when I pressure the ball of my foot - like pedaling, skiing, and running...my ankle comes in and all hell brakes loose for the muscles and joints above. Also, my forefeet needed different amounts of support. This would explain why I sat to one side of the bike, and why my muscle development was unequal. The problem (my forefoot) had been under my nose the entire time (unless I was laying down).

So, I had my problem figured out....and only 10 and a half years later! Now, it was onto the solution...It was time to fight back!

I immediately went up to get Andy from Green Mountain Rehab to get my feet molded for some custom sports orthodics, and we talked at length about what I was looking to achieve through the orthodic. Custom orthodics take time though...2 weeks to be exact...and I wanted get moving in the right direction. After 10.5 years...it was go time. I found out Specialized made forefoot wedges and ordered enough for a small army. It was time to start experimenting.

I, against Helen's best suggestion, loaded a ton of them into my cycling shoes. I pulled a mirror in front of my indoor trainer and watched how I was pedaling. My knees groaned, my tendons hissed, and my muscles lurched into motion. Everything felt so right...and so wrong. The challenge of "repetitive motion" sports is just that...you repeat motions over and over again, right or wrong, and however you do it - your body remembers. Proper motion patterns, if not done, will feel foreign. I knew it was right, but played it cool....20 minutes on the trainer here...a couple minutes there.

Things are progressing steadily now. The custom footbeds had arrived and I've just started using them. I am seeing immediate improvements in skiing and cycling, and I think I will continue to see improvements for some time as my muscles balance back out. The footbeds initially made my ski boots and cycling shoes fit snugger (vertically) and as I’ve continued to use them my feet have “relaxed” and have both lengthened and widened. My hammertoes are gradually lengthening back out…and it looks like I’m going to have to get some bigger shoes to fill. ;-)

Both Andy and Eric at Green Mt. Rehab are fantastic partners in helping me figure this stuff out. I think far to often we are tempted to either try to do something entirely by ourselves or to completely rely on others. Much more can be accomplished in collaboration though. I really enjoy working with them to improve myself and appreciate their help.

I'll keep you posted on how things are going...and hopefully the results will start doing the talking...and not the long blog posts.

The photo catch-up

This first one is of me and my new Empire Cycling teammate Clayton Barrows up at Bolton Valley, sometime around....like January 3rd or 4th or something. We are each holding hot chocolate which was courtesy of the Vermont Cross Country Ski Areas Association. Ahh...those were happy times... Anyway, Clayton and I are going to be making magic happen together in the sprints and breakaways and all over the place this year on our bikes.This is way back around Thanksgiving. Cross country skiers playing cards at a table somewhere in Canada...its been done before and it'll be done again. I was lucky enough to get to tag along with that Burke gang.
And yes, the long awaited Mt. Mansfield picture. This way I can prove we really did it. Paul, Eli and I ventured up the mountain on a half-inch mixture of ice and rocks on the first day of November. We got all the way to the top. Coming down was scary...but fun.

Internet...back in business

Upon hearing that his good friend, Lance Armstrong, lost his testicles to cancer, Chuck Norris donated one of his to Lance. With just one of Chuck's nuts, Lance was able to win the Tour de France seven times. By the way, Chuck still has two testicles; either he was able to produce a new one simply by flexing, or he had three to begin with. No one knows for sure.