Some Random Musings..
- Last week was my birthday. I typically worry about my birthday because over the years there have been some bad things that happened. This year was a great day. I went to the Limekiln Cross to watch some cyclocross in the SNOW! Really hoped to race, but my doctor said it wasn’t worth the risk of reinjuring my foot. Went home inspired and with a smile on my face, and despite temps in the low 30’s, went out on my cross bike for a 90 minute road ride! Sweet. The day was topped off with a great night with friends.
- Sunday was a good friend’s birthday. To celebrate we did a killer 60 mile ride over to Frenchtown NJ. Was supposed to be a relaxed pace, BUT. 60 miles in the wind with temps in the low 30’s hurts, but what hurt more was the fact that we averaged 21mph for the first 30 miles…OUCH. I was a tired boy that night…and feeling the extra year from the day before. Thankfully Lauren made some awesome Cheesecake to top the day off.
- It’s been nearly 5 weeks since I’ve run. I’ve gotten more used to the trainer than I ever have. Trainer workouts are now much more bearable with this little gem I found… www.thesufferfest.com Those videos are AWESOME, cheap and easy to download. Only one more week to go and I’ll be running!
- The time off has
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Categories: Triathlons
What I learned about nutrition in 2010
Two of the defining characteristics of First Endurance are their commitment to quality products and their persistent research and development to create the best products that work in real life race situations. They use nothing but the best, highest quality products. Their products are Gluten Free and contain no high fructose corn syrup. The three main components I was immediately drawn to were Ultragen (for recovery) and EFS
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Categories: Athletes, Nutrition, Product Reviews, Running, Swimming, Team, Triathlons
Garges Family Holidays 2010
Well, we had a great Holiday season this year. Christmas Eve is usually our most hectic day as we travel to my dad’s for brunch and gifts, then church, then my mom’s for dinner and gifts. My dad enjoyed telling stories to the grandchildren while we got the food ready…
After church we headed to my mom’s house. We had a great meal and the kids (including Daddy) got some great gifts! My gifts included some new trail gear and winter riding gloves.
After a hectic day of running around Lauren read “The Night Before Christmas” to the kids so Santa could get in and get that tree loaded up!
Christmas day was a nice relaxing day spent at home…..after the kids woke us up at the crack of dawn. They had such a great time. It’s such a blast to watch them open the gifts…then to get to play with them as well. Autumn is a big UNO fan, so she proudly displayed her “UNO ATTACK” game that Santa brought.
Joshua is in a Toy Story kick now, so he was glad to get his Toy Story RC car!
Walker even got a new bed from Santa. And he was quick to break it in! Don’t know why he’s so tired though, we did all the wrapping and running around.
I even managed to get a nice cool bike ride in!
I did…
Categories: Triathlons
Phelps School Cross race report
Eastern PA was treated to some incredible weather this past weekend. What better way to spend a Saturday AM than with some friends / rivals on a TOUGH cyclcross course? No one was there to shoot any pictures, but here’s a video from last year to give you some perspective: Phelps Cross 2009 Men\’s Cat 4 on Contour
I was on the fence about doing this race. Last year the course didn’t suit my style all that much and wasn’t very technical. It had some LONG power sections that ate me alive. My friend Johan talked me into it, so we headed down to Malvern PA to check it out. When we prerode the course and saw the changes we were both impressed. It was a course that combined power with some climbing and cornering skills to really put the hurting on you! I was racing with Johan, my training partner that has put the hurt on me many times before on a bicycle. We were racing the Masters 35+ / 45+ which included riders from Cat 1 to Cat 4. They were paying cash back to 7th place in our 43 man field, but I wasn’t worried about that…I wanted to prove the ever accurate race predictor at crossresults.com to be wrong. Johan and I were predicted to finish 8th/9th respectively.
Temps were in the mid 50’s w/ bright sunshine for our 11am start. I had a 2nd…
Categories: Athletes, Biking, Race Reports, Race Results, Racing
Picturesque
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Categories: Biking, Events, Race Reports, Racing
Wrapping up September
So September is finally over. Started out pretty rough but ended up being a nice transition into fall. Autumn seems to be getting the handle of this “Spanish Immersion” thing, we celebrated Lauren’s birthday and ushered in October with Autumn’s birthday.
My mom had us over for a nice family gathering to celebrate Lauren’s birthday on Friday, then we had a great party at Putt U mini golf with about 12 of Autumn’s friends on Saturday. Weather cooperated nicely. On Lauren’s birthday I raced my second cyclocross race of the season in the morning and we visited her brother and had a great dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the afternoon.
The Whirlybird cross race was in held at Bryn Athyn College outside of Philadelphia. It the first time I had been there and it was a great venue for a cross race. This year was the first time it was part of the MAC series and there were several sold out fields. I raced the (B) Masters 35+ class which was sold out at 125 people! I was lucky enough to get a 2nd row call up on the starting line due to a decent finish at the first race…Nittany Cross. The start was tight, but opened up into a LONG straight section before hitting the first few turns. I knew my skinny legs wouldn’t have much for the strong power riders on the long straights, but just hoped…
Categories: Biking, Events, Race Reports, Race Results, Racing
My lucky number
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Categories: Triathlons
The preparation has begun..
We’re less than two months from my first try at promoting a cyclocross race. We’ve got it up on BikeReg, we’ve got our website up and going and we even have some registrants already! Last year was my first year in cyclocross which is limited to a fall racing schedule. It’s an interesting sport in which you have multisport athletes that use it to stay in shape, road racers that use it to extend their road season and ‘crosser’s who train for this short season all year. It’s definitely not easy or clean, but it will put a smile on your face from ear to ear (after you catch your breath). It’s very addicting and the sport is growing like wildfire. If you see one near you, definitely go and check it out.
So I’m excited about the race on October 2nd. I rode the approximate course layout this morning and it looks awesome. Some fast sections, some slow sections and one heck of a hill which will likely be a run up. I’ve got lots of help from our local cycling team and we’re soliciting some sponsors now. We hope to make it enjoyable for the whole family with a kids race, vendors and entertainment. Of course I’m excited to race it myself as well. The first cross race of the year is actually a UCI race, the Nittany Cross about 15 minutes from my house. All…
Categories: Biking, Events, Race Schedule, Racing
Quassy Photos
The Loch ness Monster appears….
Out onto the beautiful bike course…
And how the heck did I manage a smile in that heat on that course?
And another smile up the dreadful last mile hill :<)
One of my favorite shots of all time…look at that smile on Joshua’s face, PRICELESS!
And finally done….Rev3 does things right…look at this finish line area!
Categories: Athletes, Biking, Events, Family & Friends, Race Reports, Race Results, Racing, Running, Swimming, Team, Triathlons
Mental Notes
First off, on the way home from Quassy we got news that Lauren’s uncle had suffered a cardiac arrest. He was on day two of an MS150 bike ride in North Carolina which he had done many times before, in very hot and humid weather. He collapsed 5 miles from the finish line and by the grace of God was defibulated (sp?) very quickly. He went through some tough times over the following few hours and needed open heart surgery. We got word this morning that he was removed from the ventilator and is speaking although suffering some short term memory loss. God works in amazing ways and He definitely has bigger and better plans for Ken. He’s not out of the woods yet but the recent news is very encouraging.
Things like that really make you take a step back. Here’s a fit man in his 50’s that was seconds from not making it back home after a weekend of doing what he loves. We as humans and as athletes are truly blessed. Blessed that we have great families, great bodies, and an incredible country where we live free of violence, where our children can grow up without any worries and where we have an abundance of all of our needs. I don’t know why God has provided me with the blessings he has, but I am grateful that He has and I hope that I can glorify him…
Categories: Events, Nutrition, Product Reviews, Tips
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