Stop and Spin

4 hour spin / Northface Endurance Challenge

2009-12-05T22:40:00.006-05:00

This morning I went on a nice 4 hour ride with my teammate Dave and our adopted teammate/riding partner Jeff. We ended up linking up with a couple of different groups and made some friends while enjoying a clear but chilly day outside San Francisco. After riding, I went over to Mill Valley to pace my old friend Preston for the last 6 miles of the Northface Endurance Challenge. This is an epic 50 mile trail running race through some of the most beautiful areas of coastal Marin County! This was Preston's first 50 mile race and he said that it was even harder than the Ironman he did last summer! With over 10,000 ft of elevation gain this is not an event for the weak.

It is so cool how many people are into cycling out here in Northern California. After meeting up for our ride, the 3 of us quickly encountered a number of groups and decided to tag along and make some friends.

As we rolled towards the coast the views started to look good!

We got a flat but were quickly back on the road.

Thanks to a helpful attendant at the Olema Deli I found out today that "Mexican Coke doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup like American Coke but instead that good sugar stuff"... Hmmmm, interesting, Team AC powered by Mexican Coca-Cola.

Preston on mile 44.

Preston on mile 48 running down towards the finish. Spending the last few miles of the race with Preston was pretty cool and although I don't think he was paying attention the views were out of this world. Check out the Golden Gate Bridge sticking through the fog in the background!

English Paul's Pegoretti Marcelo

2009-12-05T03:11:00.003-05:00

5 hours

2009-12-03T21:31:00.004-05:00

Today was my first 5 hour day on the bike in my build up for next season. I started with Chad (the owner of Above Category), Dave (my teammate) and our friend Eric Fischer (U23 powerhouse). The 4 of us did a nice 3 hour loop before Chad and Dave had to split off to go to work. I had planned on today being a long day, so I continued on my own for 2 more hours. I didn't go extremely hard or anything but the legs are definitely feeling tired tonight.

The fog was thick this morning as we rode through Sausalito towards San Francisco.

After passing under the Golden Gate Bridge we started to climb towards the coast.

Cruising through Fort Cronkhite the fog started to clear.

After Fort Cronkhite we did some nice climbing along these awesome cliffs!

As we made our way home we quickly realized a very high tide had come in and flooded parts of the bike path.

Golfday

2009-12-03T02:16:00.003-05:00

After putting in a good first week of training out here in San Francisco, I took a nice day off and played my first game of golf. I have never played golf before because I typically play more action packed sports like soccer, basketball, tennis etc. Never the less, I gave it a shot and had a blast. After zipping around all week on my bike it was nice to slow things down a bit.

I like the driver! Go big or go home.

Early morning ride

2009-12-01T17:47:00.003-05:00

This morning I went on an early morning ride with Above Category owner Chad and my teammate Dave. Dave just got back from spending the holidays with his parents in Minnesota so it was cool to catch up with him. We kept up a nice tempo and did a good loop around

Olema from Mill Valley.

The sky was pink as I left my house a little after 7am and rode to the shop to meet Chad and Dave for our ride. Here you can see the morning sun as we stopped to take off some of our layers.

After warming up for about an hour we picked up the tempo a bit and started to climb towards Olema.

Once in Olema, we turned inland and rode through Samuel P. Taylor park and back towards home. Dave on the left, Chad on the right.

The weather was really warming up as we finished our ride. Just another beautiful December day in Northern California.

Beautiful long painful solo ride

2009-12-01T01:53:00.005-05:00

The weather out here today was absolutely beautiful. With this in mind, what better thing to do than go on a long ride in one of the most beautiful places in the world!

As I set out on my ride, I saw this women painting on the side of the bike path. It made me pause for a second and realize how unseasonably nice it was out.

After climbing over Mt. Tam I headed straight for the Point Reyes National Seashore...aka heaven for a cyclist.

After doing a nice loop around Olema, I headed south again on Highway 1. After passing Stinson beach I started to climb and when I looked back I saw this amazing view.

As I headed home I kept checking out the huge waves that were rolling in. I didn't see many surfers in the water although I did see a ton of cars with boards on their roofs. Check out the huge Vulcher in the top left of the picture ; I saw a bunch of these guys today.

The sun started to set just as I made it over the mountain.

Did I mention it was nice out today?

Morning ride - AC Juniors cyclocross race

2009-11-29T21:00:00.007-05:00

This morning I went on a nice 4 hour ride with my old high school running coach Tom and his friend Mitch. We did a beautiful loop out in West Marin and it was nice to catch up with Tom and talk running for a bit.

After the ride, I jumped in the car and headed to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco to watch the AC juniors tear it up in a cyclocross race. Now I say the AC junior team but a more accurate description is probably the ACR U16 terror squad. Despite the fact that none of the juniors has a valid drivers license they seriously took charge of the race. ACR's Spence Petterson won the mens B race and the rest of the team also had strong showings. There were probably over 100 riders in the field and the junior team seriously represented with all the riders in the top third! Good job boys!

It was a beautiful day here in Northern California. I stopped to take this picture as we crossed Alpine Dam around 11am. Not a cloud in the sky!

ACR's Sklyer Taylor, age 14, looking pro warming up before the start!

ACR's Bob Siegel(16) and Spence Peterson(14) warming up before the start. Bob and Spence had some sort of crazy warmup routine they were doing, but it apparently works well as Spence went on to win the race with Bob a solid 7th!

This is a video of the start of the men's B race that the juniors were in. A huge field!

Check out all the people cheering at the run up. Gotta love the energy out here!

Here's a good pic of Blair Peterson, Spence's dad, flying up the run up in the singlespeed race. Blair is a super nice guy and it is cool that Spence has his whole family, mom and sisters included, cheering him on at the races. Side note - Blair is riding a super sick Potts singlespeed cyclocross bike. Steve Potts is a legend in the frame building/mountain bike world. He personally helped me out as a junior and it was cool seeing Blair race such an awesome machine.

The English ride

2009-11-29T00:17:00.006-05:00

I went out with my friends Peter, Paul and Kris this morning on something they call the "English ride". Peter and Paul are both originally from England and each Saturday morning they get together with some of their other blokes from England and they all go out for a ride together. We did a great loop out to the Limantour Beach in the Point Reyes National Seashore from the Java Hut in Fairfax. It was a real fun group of guys and there were some breathtaking views along the way. Fun times.

After getting out to Olema, we started to climb over the ridge out to Limantour Beach

Once we got to the top of the ridge we did an epic downhill to the beach. Check out that view!

This is the view from the beach looking south towards San Francisco. Amazingly clear!!!

When Im out in San Francisco I often ride with my buddy Peter. He is a real cool guy, a total workhorse on bike and looks like Mario Cippolino! His new Pegoretti is so awesome that I had to take a pic. Check out that paintjob!

Recover spin / weights

2009-11-27T18:53:00.005-05:00

I went for a nice recover spin this morning. I have put in over 200 miles in the last 3 days so it was time to take a chill pill today and let the legs rest a little. I also needed to recover from the massive amounts of turkey that I ate yesterday.

2009 AC team captain Ian Tuttle joined me for the spin. Ian will not be racing in 2010 as he is applying to grad school and focusing on his other passion in life, writing. Never the less, it was great to get Ian out for a ride and I hope that I can lure him out again soon!

After the ride I went directly to In N out for a pit stop and then on to the gym to do some easy weight work on the legs. Now it is time to relax and let the body chill before I put in a big weekend. Maybe a movie and some sushi?...mmmmm

Gobble gobble, AC Thanksgiving ride

2009-11-27T02:00:00.004-05:00

This morning was the AC Thanksgiving ride.

After meeting at the shop, the group climbed up Mt. Tam

We stopped for a pit break in Stinson Beach.

Cruising back towards the shop. Check out Chad's hot new ACR/ BKW shorts!

The view as I cruised back to the house for some turkey! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Double day

2009-11-26T03:20:00.004-05:00

This winter Im mixing things up a little with some cross training. Part of the cross training is some light weight lifting, with a focus on the legs. This morning I walked to the gym to strech out my legs and then did a 45 min weight session. After getting back to the house, I scarfed down a quick sandwich and jumped on the bike for 3 1/2 hours for this epic loop. The weather was incredible again and Im starting to think that I may even get a little color while Im out here.

There was not a cloud in the sky as I set out for my afternoon ride

After leaving the house I headed straight to Highway 1 and went north up the California coast.

Roads were smooth and uncrowded

After going up the coast awhile, I cut inland and went through the Pt. Reyes National Park

I made it home just as the sun was setting

Eventful 1st day in California

2009-11-25T12:54:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was my first day of training in California and it was both beautiful and eventful. I took off to train around 11 am and quickly shed my arm-warmers and leg-warmers as I realized I had underestimated how nice it was out. For 3 hours I spun away rocking out to my ipod, taking in the beautiful scenery and snapping the occasional pic. Then a flat! Not that bad but then I had the realization that I despite bringing my tools, air etc I had no extra tube! After fumbling through my tool case I found a vintage patch kit that had probably started to decompose from years of no use. Never the less, I was able to MacGyver it and soon I was again spinning down the road. I got about another 20 minutes in and then realized something funky was happening with the drivetrain on my bike as it just didn't quite feel right. WAMMM, and I hit my knee hard on the handlebar. Now something def is not right as my bike will pedal and shift gears but the actual pedal stoke will not propel the bike forward. Then the realization sets in that I have broken my free wheel and that it is time to start hitchhiking. 2 friendly car rides later and Im back at Above Category headquarters. Despite my tech problems it was a beautiful day and Im so happy to be out here training for the winter!

As I was climbing I came around a switchback and saw this amazing view that I had to stop and take a quick picture of. Hard to believe that this will be my "winter" playground.

My body and my bike both like being back in warm weather!

Video from Sunday Cadence ride in Philadelphia

2009-11-24T02:59:00.003-05:00

I just arrived in San Francisco tonight and Im happy to finally start my winter training tomorrow. In some ways I feel very behind where I was last year at this point. Never the less, I developed a lot as a rider during the 2009 season and thus will be starting at a lot higher level than I was ever at last winter.

I also want to mix up my training a little over the next 8-10 weeks and focus on building more core strength. I have a good cardio system from my days as a runner, so over the winter my goal is to increase my muscle strength in my legs and my overall core strength through pilates, weightlifting and other cross training techniques.

I put in 2 good rides this last weekend in Philadelphia with my buddies from Cadence. Here is a short video I took on Sunday's ride.

And it begins again...

2009-11-07T13:14:00.004-05:00

Today was my first day back riding after taking a nice 3 weeks off the bike. My body went through periods of feeling both good and bad while I was resting. The first couple of days off felt awesome but after about a week of no exercise my muscles started to ache and my body went into that deep recovery mood.

I was going to start riding again this coming Monday, but after hearing the weather was going to be nice this weekend I let myself get talked into doing the monthly employee ride out of Cadence bike store. When Im in Philadelphia, Cadence is basically my go to shop and it is always fun to go out for a spin with the guys who work there. This morning there was a real good turnout for the ride with almost 50 people showing up for the 8am spin. Not bad for November on the east coast!

The river looked very cold this morning!

The pack pulling up to an intersection.

Stages art opening in NYC

2009-10-31T15:16:00.001-04:00

Went to a real cool art opening last night at Deitch gallery in NYC for Lance Armstrong's Stages art show. The show opened in Paris this summer during the tour and is stopping in NYC before ending in Miami for Art Basel in December. I had a great night and even got to speak with the man himself about everything from racing the Tour of Gila this year to training with Victor Hugo Pena. Lance was super nice and it was real cool for him to take some time to chat.

W Magazine article on the show

Tom Sachs bike was pretty awesome, yes that is Tequila!
The piece is titled, "Lance's tequila bike for girls"
The front end of the bike had all the special tools to complete the project

Lance was in the house and having a good time. Very friendly. Milan, Lance and I chatting it up.

Winter break - August flashback

2009-10-28T21:51:00.006-04:00

This past August at the University road race in Santa Cruz, California the AC team had all five Cat 1/2s in a race together for the first time all season. For me it was one of my season highlights as I finally got to race with 2 of my teammates for the first time.

David Van Orsdel, me, Kris Lunning, Ian Tuttle & Chris Turner

Tuttle and Van Orsdel before the race. Notice mountain bike legend Ned Overend in the foreground and cyclocross stud Bary Wicks in the background.

Lunning before the race staring the hill down. This was my first time racing with Kris and it was awesome to see his power as he continually drove the pack up the hill.
Tuttle, Lunning and Van Orsdel drill it up the climb.Tuttle was our team captain in 2009 and has decided to focus on writing in 2010 instead of racing. Of course I want Ian to succeed at whatever he does, but hopefully Ian will be back racing with us soon. If it was not for Ian I would not have been on the AC team.

Van Orsdel sits in the pack and assesses the situation as Tuttle and Lunning keep the pace hot on the front. Dave and I got to race both the Tour of Gila and Cascade Classic together in 2009 and it was so much fun racing with him. He is going to be a great training partner this winter and if I had to bet I would expect some big results from him in 2010.

The group sprint, I took it out and never looked back

The guy behind me was from Japan and I love the look on his face in this photo. Im not really a sprinter but if it is uphill I can accelerate pretty quickly.

This is me talking to my old high school running coach Tom Lyons, post race. Tom has always been a huge supporter of mine and although Tom still coaches running he is now into biking and it is awesome to see him excelling on 2 wheels. Did I mention Tom won his race that day!

Winter break - Painting around the house

2009-10-27T20:46:00.005-04:00

I'm now 2 weeks into my winter break and my time off the bike is flying by. I have been painting my house and getting all my stuff in order to spend the winter out in California. In some ways I still can't believe that I have committed to relocating for the winter in order to train but I'm getting excited as the date of my departure approaches. I'm also excited because the weather here is starting to get nasty and I know from last winter that building a base when there is snow on the ground is hard.

You can tell from my pants that I have been in full on house fix up mode
Pick a color any color
A picture from last spring before a training ride

Winter break - New AC jersey

2009-10-21T17:30:00.005-04:00

New AC jersey just arrived in the mail.

The new AC jersey looks awesome in white!!

Im a week into my winter break and my time off the bike is going very quickly. Im planning on spending the winter months in a significantly warmer climate than Philadelphia, so with this in mind I have been working very hard on trying to get my house in order so that I can rent it out for the winter.

At this point it looks like Im going to be basing myself in San Francisco starting at the end of November as this will allow me to properly train for next season. Im originally from San Francisco and the combination of family, friends, weather and riding partners makes the Bay Area an easy choice.

On another subject I got a new AC jersey today in the mail today. This one is an exact contrast (white for black, black for white) to the ones we raced in all year. Pretty cool.

Checked out the cyclocross scene

2009-10-18T21:37:00.012-04:00

I drove out to the Pennsylvania countryside today to watch the Wissahickon Cross UCI C2 cyclocross race. It has been raining here for the past 2 or 3 days straight so I was excited to see the condition of the course and watch some strong elite riders duel it out.

I used to race cyclocross as a junior and I have been flirting with the idea about giving it another go. It is not in the plan this winter but come this time next year things may be very different. I spoke with the legendary Chris Kelly (founder of Kelly Bicycles) last week and lets just say there are some people who are interested in seeing me back on the cyclocross scene. Kelly reminded me that as a junior in 1996 I won the overall Surf City cyclecross series in Northern California. This was an epic series that had some amazing courses and was sooo much fun. While mountain biking was what originally got me hooked on cycling, cyclocross underlined how much fun racing you bike should be and also introduced me to the strong Nor Cal cycling community that supported me through my days as a junior.

As for today's race, Ryan Treborn of Kona won the race easily ahead of his teammate Barry Wicks. I raced Wicks back at University Road Race in California this past August and was surprised how quickly he was off the back in that race. Today was completely different and it was cool to see him in his element putting the pain on some top domestique road pros who were out giving the dirt a try. Just goes to show what special skills are required in cyclocross.

Final thoughts- Big props to the Kona 1-2. Kona bicycles was a huge supporter of mine as a junior and it was good to see them dominating. As a junior mountain bike racer I was partially adopted by Kona one summer and have some amazing memories traveling around the country in the back of their truck from one NORBA National to the next. I got to do everything from visit the company headquarters in Washington state to take the factory team on a ride in my hometown of Marin prior to the UCI World Cup in Napa (which I went on to win!). I don't know who is still around from back in the day but I still have a lot of fond memories and it was great to see them go 1-2! (Jake would be proud!)

Yummy! It dried out a lot from yesterday but there was still some nice thick slow mud

Charging it!

Richard Sachs makes some beautiful bikes.

I saw only one dismount section on the whole course so I posted up there for some action
The fans on the run up were awesome and there were even some $1s and $5 stuck in the mud for the riders to grab as they struggled up the hill

Fall is officially here on the east coast

2009-10-13T23:35:00.004-04:00

Today's high in Philadelphia was in the 50s which means that in my book summer is officially over. I went for a nice spin this afternoon and despite the chilly weather had a lot of fun. Im going to stop for my winter break later this week so before I do so Im making sure I get one last ride around some of my favorite loops.

NYC birthday weekend

2009-10-12T15:19:00.011-04:00

I had a great weekend up in NYC getting in some "city" miles, going trap shooting and celebrating my friend Milan's 25th birthday. Milan is my teammate, domestique, security, webmaster but most importantly best friend. 2009 was his first year racing and I think that 2010 will be a breakout year for this strong rider from New York City.

We went to a lot of races together this year from the Tour of Gila in New Mexico to the Fitchburg Classic in Mass. There were definetly some ups and downs along the way. Milan talked me into racing at 730am in NYC in early March, wtf 30 degrees!! I talked Milan into driving down from NYC to do the Tour of Nebo in Pennsylvania without mentioning the fact that it was really called the Tour of Mt. Nebo and there was over 6000 ft of climbing (he is a sprinter) haha.

If it wasn't for Milan I would not have gotten back into cycling last year and if it wasn't for Milan I never would have even thought about doing over 40 races this year! When you have a best friend who loves to bike it is awesome. I have a lot of great friends but very few who understand what being a true cyclist is about... the commitments, the training, the suffering but more than anything the fun! Cycling can bring people together. I know it is only October but Im already getting excited about crushing it next season and I know no matter what happens in the races Milan and I will be having a good time as always.

Milan- "Forget the clays, show me the where the duck pond is at!"
New York City represent, represent
Milan changing a flat, city style
From the bike to the hair... a work of art

Valley Forge Nat'l Hist. Park

2009-10-09T20:19:00.003-04:00

Being born and raised in San Francisco, Im often sarcastically asked how the riding is in Philadelphia. Valley Forge Nat'l Hist. Park is about an hour spin from downtown Philadelphia and as you can see from the photos it is absolutely beautiful! I have a couple of nice loops that I do out here when Im training hard during the race season. The roads are very smooth and tend to be pretty empty. While I do miss the west coast, as you can see from the photos Im not doing too bad out here.

October in Philadelphia

2009-10-07T11:17:00.003-04:00

I have been enjoying some nice mellow rides the last few days here in Philadelphia. Here are some pictures I took from my short spin last night.

Doing the group ride thing

2009-10-04T10:25:00.003-04:00

During the race season I was so busy traveling and racing every weekend that I did not get to do any cool relaxed weekend group rides. Over the winter these early morning weekend rides had become part of my normal schedule. Group rides are fun for a number of different reasons and I enjoyed getting out there again and doing a great 3 hour loop with some friends. Here are some pictures from the ride. It was cold, wet and we had a number of punctures but all was good.

My bike - 10/1/09

2009-10-01T14:50:00.006-04:00

I have been training and racing on the same bike since March. The frame is a Pegoretti Love #3 custom AC Team model. I think that Dario made only 5 of these frames and Im extremely honored to be riding one and to be on the only team in the world that is sponsored by Pegoretti!

The bike is built up with a Campy Record group. Up front I have an Edge fork/bar, Chris King headset and a Deda stem. I currently have my bars wrapped in gold Deda tape (bling, bling).
I have been using a variety of Edge wheels this season and still have not settled on a favorite combo. My current setup is a deep dish 68 Edge up front and a shallow 25 Edge in the rear. I use DT Swiss hubs on all my Edge wheels.

Other details on my bike include FSA K Force Light SRM cranks, FSA chainrings, Thomson seatpost, Fi'zik saddle and Look Keo pedals

Pics from tonight's ride around Philadelphia

2009-09-29T19:42:00.004-04:00

Went on a nice spin around Philadelphia tonight with my friend Brian. Here are some photos from the ride.

Pics and a video from today's ride

2009-09-28T19:23:00.006-04:00

My racing is over for the season however Im still going to be riding/training for about 2 more weeks before I take a nice winter break. While in some ways it has been hard to find the motivation to ride the last week, Im kinda taking advantage of this "no racing but still riding for some reason period" and took some cool pics and a video on my ride today.

The thinking behind this "no racing but still riding for some reason period" has to do with my training for next season. I want to make sure that I don't take more than 20 days off during my winter break; in the same sense, I also want to make sure not to start training too early for next season. According to people who know a lot more about training than I do, the ideal time to start training for next season is at the start of November. So with this in mind, Im going to continue to ride until around the middle of October and then I will take my much deserved winter break.

Tour of Catskills results (kinda)

2009-09-24T09:43:00.008-04:00

Results are finally out from Tour of the Catskills and lets just say that they're a little questionable to say the least. At the end of the day I can't be that angry because it is not like I won the race ; however, it would have been nice for the promoters to actually get the results right after spending more than 3 days working on them.

Stage 1 - 14th

Stage 2 - 8th

Stage 3 - 8th

Overall - 10th

Tour of Catskills update

2009-09-23T10:39:00.004-04:00

It is Wednesday morning here in Philadelphia and despite finishing the Tour of the Catskills on Sunday results for both the 2nd and 3rd stages are still not up! Never the less, I had a fun weekend of riding and was able to put in some good miles. This was my first experience riding in the Catskill Mountains and despite the problems the race promoters seem to be having with the results it was a good experience overall. Pictured are some beautiful waterfalls that we passed on stage 3 that I went back and checked out after the finish.

Tour of Catskills here I come!

2009-09-17T20:22:00.003-04:00

I just got the car packed up and Im about to take off for the Tour of the Catskills. Im driving to New York City tonight and then to Windham, NY tomorrow in time for the afternoon TT. Road races both Saturday and Sunday! More to come...

Time to get serious

2009-09-14T23:54:00.001-04:00

Dear Chris Johnson,

The following request to change your USCF category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:
cjoh756372 - 2009-09-08 8:06
Member: Chris Johnson
License: Road Racer
Request to change category from Cat 2 to Cat 1

Request was approved on 2009-09-10 15:07 by Paul Inglis

USA Cycling Response from Paul Inglis:
Chris, you will need to sign and fax (then mail) in a waiver when requesting your new license.

Congrats.