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New Blog!
For ease of uploading and displaying photos and write-ups I have decided to start a new blog. The address for this is: www.brknnck.blogspot.com Photos will still be available in mass quantity in the photo gallery.
-Andy
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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
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Posted by pow7deron Sunday, January 07 @ 18:58:46 MST (248 reads)
(Read More... | Score: 0) |
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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.
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Posted by pow7deron Tuesday, October 03 @ 07:20:23 MST (259 reads)
(Read More... | Score: 0) |
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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.
8th
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.
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Posted by pow7deron Monday, August 21 @ 10:53:28 MST (266 reads)
(Read More... | Score: 5) |
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Tour de Cure - Reston, VA
BrknNck writes "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 "
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Posted by pow7deron Thursday, June 08 @ 09:20:43 MST (309 reads)
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Mission Accomplished!!
BrknNck writes " 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. "
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Posted by pow7deron Sunday, April 23 @ 12:27:26 MST (548 reads)
(Read More... | 6140 bytes more | Score: 5) |
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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.
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Posted by pow7deron Sunday, February 12 @ 10:10:24 MST (1679 reads)
(Read More... | Score: 5) |
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 | |  | | | Thank you to my sponsors for the Tour de Cure The Bartlam's
Natha Beyers
John Blaszczak
Garnet Brumfield
Sara Eyhorn
Sam Ford
Gail Hartsoe
Barbara Heckman
Jay and Lisa
Jessica Helsel The Kozlowski's
The Moss Family
Jason Mullins
Tiffany Myers Tammy Sawyer
Brian Scott
Loretta Smith
The Talley's
Winky + Juanita Vivas
James Washington
Joel + Steph Webber
Perry Welch
Yvonne Welch Ziehl-Nablo Family
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