TRAINING AND RACING

Heading into the weekend and it looks like the weather is NOT going to cooperate. Forecast for Saturday is cold and rainy - with highs only into the upper 40's. This is what I refer to as 'crap weather'..... I mean, this is Florida. C'MON!!! My umbrella has been getting WAY too much use.
(Steve Abrass seemed to think that I resembled 'Mary Poppins' ....... hmmmm :-/ )

Anyways, going to try to make the best of it. Maybe spend some time on the rollers / trainer to mix it up a bit. If it's not raining too hard - I may even venture out with my new LG rain jacket.

Super inexpensive shell from Louis Garneau - got it from the Trek Store in Jax Beach. The goal was to get in 6 hrs between Saturday and Sunday. Not sure if that'll happen but we'll see.

On the racing side of things -

Good luck to Chad Parker - he's heading out to Arkansas for round #2 of the National Ultra Endurance Mountain Bike Series. It's a 6-hr race in Hot Springs, AR.

- Rb -

12 Hours of Santos - Race Report

This past weekend was the 12 Hours of Santos race held at Santos Trails (in the Vortex Pit) near Ocala, FL. Team RecoverBetter was represented strong by Tony "The General" Janik, Scott Pavao, and myself (Sean Crichton). We got down there on Friday afternoon in time to snag a killer spot right along side of the trail. It was a perfect spot to set up our pit area - this way we could just roll right through and grab food and a bottle and head right back out. We had some perfect weather - mainly in the 70's during most of the day and probably got down into the low 50's once the sun went down. The race went great and everybody got in a solid day of riding.

Tony J. a.k.a The General rode like a man possessed and pumped out 15 laps to finish 7th overall - BIG TIME PROPS!! Here is Tony heading out for one of his 15 laps....

TJ looking focused......

Here is me finishing up one of my laps. Probably in mid-day sometime. It definitely started to get a little warm.

This must be close to the night-laps because I'm already sporting my lights -

I'll save you the lap for lap details, but let's just say that it was a long day in the saddle and it was awesome. I ended the day with a solid 11 hrs and 13 minutes of riding for 13 laps. The Garmin showed 97 miles but I think some of the tree cover threw that off because it was an 8mile lap (8x13 = 104?!?) ...... Pretty stoked anyway. I actually made it in before the 9:30 pm cutoff and I could have gone out for one more lap, but at that point - I was cooked. My stomach felt like I had an alien about to pop out. I've gotta get the nutrition thing nailed down. (Hey....MARNI!!!!!!) It's funny how you experience so many different emotions when you're out there just riding along. I definitely experienced some highs and some lows. I guess for my next race, the Cohutta 100 I'll have a little better idea of my nutrition & pacing plan. This endurance-mtb stuff is a whole new ball game compared to XC racing.

Here's my homeboy Chad P. - putting a hurting on the 12hr Base Solo class -- 3rd place!!! Solid 12 laps.

- Rb -

Team RecoverBetter - We're going racing!

This weekend is the first mountain bike race of the season for Team RecoverBetter. We'll be racing the first round of the 2010 National Ultra Endurance Calendar at Santos Trails in Belleview, Florida. The 12hrs of Santos race has been a mainstay of my race schedule for the past few years - its always a great time. In years past, we've raced as a team (2008), solo for 6hrs (2009), and now Tony and I will be competing in the 12 Hour SOLO Elite class. I'm sure the comp is going to be pretty tough, since this race is now part of the National series. It will be interesting to see how things play out - early season races have never been my strength.

Here's a pic from 2008 when we placed 3rd Pro/Expert 12hr Team: After last year's 6hr race - I've decided to give it a go for the full 12 hours. I have no real expectations on results other than I just want to get in a LONG day of riding. A big accomplishment for me will be simply to keep riding all day until the cutoff point. This winter's training has been spotty, so I'm looking at this race as a 'kick-off' for the 2010 season. Here are a few of the other races that Team RecoverBetter will be competing at:

• BFAST Duathlon - Nocatee, FL - March 21, 2010
• Cohutta 100 MTB Race- TN - April 24th, 2010
• Dirt, Sweat, & Gears 12hr MTB Race- TN - May 15th, 2010
• BFAST Sprint Triathlon - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL - June 2010
• Off-Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell - NC - July 25th, 2010
• Fools Gold 100 MTB Race - N. GA - August 21, 2010
• 8hrs of Labor MTB Race - Alachua, FL - Labor Day, 2010

So keep an eye out for us at the races - we'll usually be carrying some inventory with us - so stop by if you need anything.

Here's a pic of Tony practicing his POST 12-hour 'race-face' -