andrewelch.com

Motivation

For the first time in awhile, today's ride was as great as one could ask for. Sunny and mid 60's in the first week of January. The best part is it finally felt like my legs were coming back around to form. I haven't really been on the bike on a regular basis since Thanksgiving except for the weekly cyclocross races on Sunday. Which by the way I was able to finish fourth for the series in the Men's C division of the VA Cyclocross Series.

Armed with my new built up wheelset consisting of Chris King hubs and Mavic Open Pro rims and new ruby red slippers, I headed out from the house and rode the shorter version of the Cloverhill route. Legs felt strong for the entire 42 mile ride which was not the case at the beginning of the week. Unfortunately, I got a late start and the sun was starting to set. This would not be a problem but I still have not recieved my new Cateye Double Shot which was ordered just before Xmas.

With just about 5 weeks before Sebring, it looks to be a great start to another good week of training hopefully. With two days in a row off from work in the middle of the week will you will find me out for long rides on both days.

Looking for the burn

-Andy

Poor Farm Fall Cup

Sunday was the Fall Cup at the good ole Poor Farm and in typical Andy fashion I choose to take part in the Enduro class. It turned out to be a 5 hour ride full of painful cramps. I felt a bit tired before the race started but that is nothing new for me. I am not a strong morning rider, as for some reason it takes my legs a bit longer to warm up than in the afternoon or evenings. I expected them to come to me which never actually happened. Truth be told about a mile or so into the race the course opened up to a section of gravel doubletrack and 4 riders went shooting by me. When I had no response to their breakneck pace I thought two things would happen. The first, they will slow down towards the end and I will be able to reel them back in. The second was I am going to need them to all suffer numerous mechanicals in order to catch them as my legs felt like jello.

I settled into a pace I thought I would be able to hold for the long haul. With the rain that was dropped on us a few hours before the race and a terrible selection of tires on my part the climbs were just crucial. The rain made them very slick and sloppy and with my tires shedding mud like no other, and when I say shedding mud I mean packing the tread full of it as they did not shed mud very well at all, I wasted a lot of energy trying to make the climbs. I was able to make the climbs on the first few laps but then then other classes started and it seemed as everyone was walking the climbs ahead of you so it was hard to get a good run and keep the momentum needed to get up them with little wasted energy. I did get a lot of practice of my cyclocross mounts and dismounts in however. :-

Lap 3 brought on small cramps in my calves and also saw me catching the third place rider. It happened to be Joe P who was riding for the Bike Lane in NOVA. Being able to pull myself up to his wheel turned out to be my saving grace. Laps 4 and 5 brought on severe leg cramps now in the quads and groin area. Somewhere in there I tweaked my back trying to use more upper body to help out my legs and possibly ease the pain from the cramps.

Lap 6 I shoulder blocked a tree while I was trying to get a drink. Then lap 7 I performed my best superman impression as I hooked a tree with my wide ass handlebars which sent me flying over the bars. And who says you don't come unclipped from the bike without thinking about it when you crash. A short 15 foot run back to the bike and I was back on trying to catch the wheel of Joe once again.

The final lap went without a hitch considering the pain I was in from now hitting the tree, the ground and the wall. Back on lap 4 or so Joe and I had agreed that if we were still together at the end of the final lap we would do a no handed sprint to the finish. This was his idea as my idea was to crawl into the woods off the trail and die. We both slowed and once we came out of the woods and started the no handed sprint. Some how I was able to edge him out at the line for the third place. What a fun way to finish!

All in all for being the most uncomfortable day on a bike I have ever experienced, I cannot be too disappointed in the outcome. Now to recover for another one of these next Sunday at Camp Hilbert where I will have to tend to the likes of the Lummox King himself, Scott Schupert and Tripower's own Daniel Gibson. They have split the wins of the first two races of this series in which I was unable to participate in. Should be another fun race and hopefully less painful.

Pictures can be found here thanks to my ability to steal them from other folk's websites. Thanks to those who were able to capture but more importantly share them. Also a big thank you to AC Bruce for laying out a terrific course for us to run and for Richmond Multisports for hosting the event.

18 Hours on the Farm

Sometimes you just have to go for it. I have resisted the urge to participate in any mountain bike races for the last couple of years in fear of introducing my competitive side to my cycling habit. Something tickled me just right this week and I decided to take part in the 18 Hours on the Farm. It is an endurance race in which the rules are simple: He who completes the most laps in 18 hours is the victor. Naturally I decided to jump in head first and sign up to do Men’s Solo. Other options included 4 man team and 2 man Duo. Somewhere in my freefall, my helmet must have fallen off as I decided to do the solo event on my singlespeed. Below you will find a quick recap of the few days leading up to and of the weekend.

Week in review:

Wednesday: Squeeze one lap in before dark at the Scout Camp

Thursday: 60 mile road ride

Friday: Begin to take it easy for the weekend

45 mile road ride

Saturday: 18 hours on the Farm!

Race begins I feel good.

Night falls I still feel good.

8^th lap and lights die two miles from the line.

Saved by Bonnie from Puss in Boots!!!!!

Sunday: Sun comes up feel like crap!

Is it 10 yet?

9:30 or so the standoff begins and the race ends.

15 laps, 140 miles in 18 hours gets me first place honors.

Sunday Night: “Did I get hit by a train?”

My many thanks go out to Cycles Ed, Cobblestone Bicycles and all the volunteers who put on the event. It was run with nothing but CLASS! I would also like to thank the guys who talked me into doing it and my pit crew, Dad. You were the best. Never had to wait for bottles and kept shoving food down my throat. I couldn’t have made it to the end without you! As always you can find pictures here.

To the Rescue

Two words: Hot and Humid. The ride started off relatively cool at 80 degrees or so but that would change fast. Kyle and I set out at about 7:30 with a decent pace of averaging 21 mph. About 13 miles in we passed a few riders with one of them jumping onto our wheels. His presence was welcomed as it would give both Kyle and I a chance to rest while keeping the pace up.

The sun finally came out to play about 40 some miles in which caused the temperature to skyrocket. Around the 60 mile mark the heat began to take a toll on Kyle but he refused to let it beat him. As we were passing through the back roads of Williamsburg I looked down at the computer and it showed that it was 110 degrees on the road.

The route was a relaxed loop through a nice scenic area of VA. With only a few nice climbs the gently rolling terrain made for a nice setting for Kyle to take his first stab at a century. With his never say die attitude he did just fine. We finished in about 6.5 hours with an average speed of 16.7 mph. My congratulations go out to Kyle for finishing and a big thank you goes out to the James City – Bruton Volunteer Fire Department for putting on the event.

Tour de Cure - Reston, VA

Oh what a ride!! Before I get to it though I want to thank all of you who donated in support of myself and Diabetes. Between the two Tours I was able to raise a little over $1100. That is all due to you!

The weather was perfect for a ride of this caliber. High 70's! It began with Greg Lemond filming a commercial for the Tour de Cure before we headed down the WO&D Trail. The trail was ultra smooth which helped with the quick pace to the first two rest stops.

Skipping the first rest area which was ten miles in I arrived at the second to find mom snapping off pictures as if she were returning fire in Iraq, with her new Canon Digital Rebel. Filled up the bottles and was back on my way alongside of JB. The climbs began shortly there after.

The route was loaded with climbs. Most of them were short steep climbs but there were a handful of longer climbs as well. As stated, "What goes up, must come down." the downhills were just as abundant as the climbs. The downhil into Lovettsville was just amazing. Long, curvey, and FAST! Top speed going down the hill was 47mph. It would have been much faster had I known the course and didnn't check up going before some of the later curves. The volunteers there in Lovettsville where great. They get my vote for volunteers of the race.

The rest stop at Lovettsville started the 33 mile return trip back to the start. With 22 miles left I stopped at the rest stop grabbed a banana and started a personal time trial back to the start. Riding hard all the way back on the WO&D trail I finished the ride in 5 hours 40 minutes. That is 20 minutes of actual riding time and an hour and 20 minutes faster than my first century in Chesapeake just a month earlier.

The ride was pure joy and I am looking forward to riding in them again next year. As for now though I am off to ride in Ontario, Canada with Becky(sister) and Brian(her b/f) and then possibly down to N.C. for the Blood, Sweat, and Gears.

-Andy

Mission Accomplished!!

April 22, 2006 started early with a 3:30 wake up time and a 4:30 departure time from the house. Becky, Dad, and I were heading down to Chesapeake, VA so that I could ride in my first century, the Tour de Cure. The ride would start at 8:00 in Chesapeake with the finish being in Manteo, NC. The ride started out quite nicely for the first 0.7 miles, yes you read that right 0.7 miles, when a rider in the front of the pack lost a water bottle while crossing over a set of railroad tracks. An inexperienced rider swerved to the left and grabbed two handfuls of brakes taking out my riding buddy, John. I was about 5 or 6 riders back and saw it starting to unfold and was able to avoid the 3 rider pile-up. I stopped to make sure that John was alright and while we were adjusting his handlebars the girl that hit John yelled out, "My f-in bike is ruined" then proceeded to pick the bike up over her head and slam it to the ground. The first thing that came to mind was, yep that will fix it. But I refrained from saying anything. John's handlebars were tightened the nice SAG volunteer and we were on our way again.

Tour de Cure

As many of you know, diabetes is one of the nasty diseases that run in my family. So as I was thinking about riding my first two centurys ( one century equals 100 miles in a day ), I thought what better reason to ride then to help benefit the American Diabetes Association. With that said I will be participating in the Tour de Cure in Chesapeake, VA on April 22, 2006 and again in Reston, VA on June 4. I am looking for sponsorship for this ride and that is where you come in. By donating $5, $10, or however much you want to the ADA in support of my riding efforts we all can come out winners by helping to find the cure we so desperately need. You may donate online here.

Andrew - BrknNck

The 101.4 mile Route from Chesapeake, VA to Manteo, N.C.