Ohio Cycling Disorder (OCD)

Fools 50k Post-race Swag (may end up on the back of the Subaru)        This is the start of my attempt at three 50k trail races this year and one 50-miler. I completed my first 50k in July of last year at the Buckeye Trail 50k (4th in AG) and then finished my trail running season with the locally well-known Bills Bad Ass 50k and finished 3rd overall. I am digging the trail running quite a bit. Not sure why I do well in this, perhaps better than in mountain bike racing, but I love to just throw some trail shoes on and hit the trail. It's just so simple and peaceful. Me and nature and me against the trail. Western Reserve Racing puts on a whole slew of trail races and runs throughout each year and I have never been disappointed in any of their events. Not only is their race support phenomenal and their volunteers incredibly, hands-down awesome, but a large portion of the money goes to the Cuyahoga National Parks which is near and dear to both me and m...

                                                                View from Hurricane Rim Trail parking lot. Once again, for the third year running, I made the pilgrimage to St. George, Utah foraging my way through the droves of travelers at airports and shuttles, eating their way to their destination with a steady "healthy" diet of Cinnabons and that famous Italian pizza that Michael Scott (from the office) raves about ... Sabbaro's . The nutrition struggle continues for me personally as I fight through the massive amount of unhealthy choices while traveling but was smart and brought with me bananas, apples, dark chocolate coffee beans (love these little guys!), and some kind bars from Runner Boxes that Angie and I get once a month as a nice treat for ourselves. Funny thing about bananas, apparently they don't scan ...

I raced this last year when Western Reserve Racing decided to bring the race back after a bit of a respite. Last year I ran the 1/2 marathon as I began to get into trail running more. This training season since I have already run a few 13+ mile training runs I decided to step up to the net race distance and race the 30k (just over 18 miles). This race has four race distances, 13.1, 18, 26.2, and a 50k. While I know I could have raced any of those distances, being early in the season and this being the end of the first week in a new training block, I did not want to completely torch my legs (although ... 18 miles still is not easy at race pace). Legs felt a bit tired after the volume of running, riding, and strength training this week however I tried to front-load stuff in the beginning of the week so I could get "some" recovery towards the end of the week ... sort of. Once I got rolling things felt good overall but leg soreness plagued me the entire race. Could ju...

Marji Gesick 100  -  #findyourlimitsanddestroythem I signed up for the Marji Gesick 100 before it was announced the race would be a part of the NUE series. The challenge intrigued me and after the inclusion into the NUE was announced I contacted the Race Director (not sure if it was Todd or Danny that responded) to find out if the nature of the race was going to change and be a kinder and gentler Marji Gesick 100 (those who have raced Hampshire 100 know what I mean). They confirmed that it would not be changing … cool … I’m in. Before signing up, I asked my dad if he was interested in taking a trip with me while I head to Michigan to race the MG100. I don’t do many 1-on-1 activities with my father and I saw this as a neat opportunity. My father has been following my racing for a few years now and will attend the Mohican 100 because it is so close to home. I wasn’t sure if he would be up for the long drive and sitting around most of the day during the race. I was pleas...

2015 6 Hours of Brady's Run Race Report The  6 Hours of Brady's Run  was an unscheduled race that I decided to participate in, sort of at the last minute. The determining factors were, in order of importance, the "OK" from my wife (always important), the recovery from the Cohutta 100 two weeks prior, and the weather forecast (only concern was the heat as they forecast upper 80's). Got the "OK" to go, recovery was looking good, and the forecast, while hot, looked great! So I was all in. Where: Beaver Falls, PA When: 5/9/2015 (my birthday ;-) Photos Credit:  Mike Briggs  (great guy and photographer extraordinaire) I drove to Bear Falls, PA the morning of the event since it was only 1:36 drive time and the race started at 10am. I have never ridden the course and of course did a bit of research by reviewing the course on their web site, reading other race reports, and watching youtube videos. The format of the race is to complete as many laps of...

2015 Cohutta 100 Race Report The  Cohutta 100  is the second race in the National Ultra Endurance 2015 series and is held in TN. This race starts at the Occee river where they held the 1996 Kayak Olympic Competitions. This would be my first into the series for this year and Dave Jolin's second. They changed the course slightly so it really is tough to determine a true personal record ('PR') compared to previous years. The two days prior to the race were absolutely gorgeous, so both Thursday and Friday before the race we headed out for some easy riding to enjoy the weather and dry trails. The forecast for the day of the race? Not so much. Oh man, it's-'a-'coming! The race directors were toying with the idea to shorten the race due to the impending severe storms, but in the end made the call the day before the race to keep the course as originally laid out. Your gonna get wet and muddy, that's MTB'ing. If the storms get bad, head for shelter, ...