Hell of Hunterdon 2016

Dear Readers,

The Hell of Hunterdon is a beautiful ride.

Scrumming in the first wave! 

I am told that the roads of the Hell of Hunterdon  twist around very scenic and beautiful central New Jersey showcasing  the best that NJ has to offer. As we crested a long dirt road hill Buddy the Leg Breaker, looked over to me and said, "It's a shame we don't get to really see how beautiful this area is, you know because we are bleeding out our eyes..."

I grunted, wiped the drool off my chin and nodded in agreement, as we continued to tap out tempo up the climb.

So while I am convinced that aesthetically the Hell of Hunterdon is a beautiful ride, that's not really what I mean.

another Fatmarc and Buddy the leg breaker adventure! 

The ride was beyond expectations for me. Fun. Challenging- the gravel roads had some hairy spots and  benefited my brand of deception and guile (bike handling).  Mileage was longer than anything I normally do and with enough elevation that it is a true test of fitness and endurance. This was not a ride for the uninitiated.

Beautiful.

I'll admit I tend to get bored on long rides, but the parcours this weekend offered up 17 sections, over 14 miles of gravel and dirt roads. The promoters do an amazing job of having the ride supported, two wonderful stops, major intersections all manned- and motos buzzing around checking in on riders. AMAZING.  I can't say enough about the after ride food and beer accommodations. Already planning on 2017.  As I type this, I still have a smile on my face.

It's not a race, it's not a race: Okay maybe it's kind of a race.

I've done a number of Grand Fondo Style rides. I like the challenge, the semi-competitive nature of those rides. Despite the announcer reminding everyone that this isn't race, it felt an awful lot like a race. Scrumming for a starting position... Monkey and Anne Rock taking a hole shot... It felt like a race. But it wasn't...

Photo Credit : Greg Kaplan- How many 'Crossers can you count? 

Look - it wasn't the douche-canoe "I'm gonna win the Charity Ride" vibe, but the "there's a ton of really strong, good riders here, who all understand this is going to be hard, and lets shake things up a bit." vibe.  It was cool, like being a part of something special...

Perhaps it was lots of folks getting prepped for the spring season. Maybe it's Battenkill in the minds of many.  Perhaps it was the pro grand-fondo riders. Perhaps it was 'crossers who haven't raced in three months that needed to scratch an itch. I really don't know, but it was beautiful.

I had set a goal of sub 5 hours, and while our rolling time was 5:03,  with two flats and rest stops- our riding time  was 4:39. So yeah, I was stoked.

Monkey Miles:

wish my camera captured this better! 

Monk and Rock had planned on doing a modified loop. Monk had never done a ride longer the 50 miles. Rock was her Jedi. I'm not gonna lie, I had started calling Monk Stress-Monkey during the week. She was obsessive in her preparation. I've been riding with her, she's been riding really well, and I was confident she'd do great, even if she was still figuring it out.

Laura C joined Monk and Anne as they worked together across the course. In typical Monkey and Anne fashion, they took the hole shot and lead out the entire first wave until the start of the first climb. Diane and Anne killed it. They ticked off 63 miles, taking one small short cut. This was the longest and most climbing Monk had ever done. As she sat next to me at our table following the ride, she was smiling ear to ear. I was super stoked and proud of her. I was also grateful for Anne Rock her partner in crime and adventures. We are lucky to have Rock in our life!

Life lesson: if you catch your wife on the road, and she had a flat, your group
better stop to help. Buddy thankfully booted her tire up!

If you can Dodge a wrench: 

The ride took off fast. Joey, John, Buddy and I kinda got separated. John and I were probably going too hard too fast, and nosed our way further up in the group. Cruising along at 30 mph, I figured I was going to have to pay the piper soon. Up the first steep pitch, mile 11 or so... the I started to drift back a bit. I felt like this was a long ride, and I was working way too hard too soon. I came off the front group. Luxy came back for me.

Monkey, Shane and I head to staging. This would actually be the last time
I'd ride in front of Shane! 

Sure enough, just as I was good and gapped the route turned right and flattened out. John went to the front and drilled it trying to get us up back to that front group. I took a big long pull, and noticed we were dragging a train behind us. I rolled back aside Luxy and said, "dude, we can't drag these guys up by ourselves...

We are not drilling it in this photo. 

Just then, a skinny dude in all black pulled through. The pace bumped up a few miles per hour. I looked over to John and whispered like a fan boy, "DUDE, THAT'S CAM DODGE - THIS MIGHT HAPPEN!" Just then Jay, Cam's father pulled along side me, "morning Marc!"

We entered sector 2 of gravel and were flying. Cam was ripping. Luxy and I were following closely. It was one of those moments on a bike that is just perfect karma. I admit I was being a little aggressive but it felt good to push the edge just a little. Then I hit something.  I said to myself "don't flat, don't flat, don't flat..."

Fuck. I flatted.

Luxy says, "you're flat man"
"motherfu... "  I said under my breath. I encouraged John, "keep going don't let that wheel go! "

Luxy replied, "not gonna happen, we are in this together.."  We were quickly joined by Mr. Joe and Buddy. Buddy helped me fix my flat, because I ... I was flailing... I'll point out here that Buddy helped both Vanderbacons fix their flats today... (thanks man)

Four on the Floor:

My big fat belly busts out of my vest and ruins an
otherwise cool picture.

After my flat, we were all together as a group of four. And we rode the rest of the ride as a pretty cohesive unit. Not surprising, Luxy is a great road captain. Along the way we had a couple of folks work in an out of our group: Conair, Dennis, and Otto.  Shane danged off the front of us, and I'll let him know we were coming to get him on all the climbs. It was rad to ride with the core of the four of us. Each of us working, each of us hitting a spot of bother, and all of us taking care of each other. I was stoked. I'm a team guy, and that just added another level of awesome to the day for me...

A seat at the table: 

As the post ride activities commenced, Buddy the Leg Breaker, and 5/6 of the Deluxx Bikes Cyclocross team (Luxy, Monk, Rock, Mr. Joe, and Fatme) sat around a table in the Elks lodge with too many miles in our legs, too much food on our plates, and huge smiles on our faces. Luxy began to wax poetically, "you know in the weeks before this ride, I know we all wonder why we would do a ride like this... some thing as tough as this...."

I interrupted him.

"Eff you John Lux!" I said, "I didn't wonder why I did this, you told me all cross season- "fatmarc you need to do the hell of hunterdon!" I'd say, "I don't ride 80 miles- ever," You'd say "you're gonna do it this year, you'll love it ..."    So I know exactly why I did this ride- because you told me to! "

Everyone laughed.  Buddy pointed at me and added, "You made me do it!"

More laughter. We truly enable our friends.

Don't tell John, but I did love it. It was beautiful.

Truly a great day. Looking forward to getting everyone back together next week at the Brandywine Roubaix. Should be another great event by the folks that bring you the West Chester Cross Classic!

looking forward to that ride ! Looking forward to getting the band together again next week.

thanks to the kind folks at Kermesse Sport for a great event.


thanks for reading.

respect
VDB

Proper Preparation the Day Before Hell of Hunterdon: (no kids at the skatepark at 7:00am)

Dear Readers,

Got to get out to the skatepark this morning.

As usual, it was really fun and really good for me mentally.

I've got a few things I'm working on, and am so stoked to be riding. 

100% outstanding preparation for tomorrow's Hell of Hunterdon.

Stoked for many reasons.

Thanks for reading.

respect
Vanderbacon

Reuben Sandwiches, Strawberries and Logan

Dear Readers,

A couple weeks ago, Diane and I were out at one of our favorite restaurants. and I quickly glanced at the specials and saw they were offering a Reuben Sandwich. Without looking too closely at the details, I ordered the Reuben. I love Reuben sandwiches. Dare I say they are my favorite sandwich ever.

The restaurant is also very well know for their vegetarian fare, which I often enjoy. I would recommend the place for my meat and non-meat eating friends. (homegrown cafe, Newark, DE)

Much to my surprise, this evening the Reuben sandwich was in fact a vegetarian Reuben.  The sandwich was built around Seitan, not corned beef as I expected.




Don't get me wrong, while I'm not a vegetarian, I do like Seitan. But my friends, Seitan is not corned beef. And a Reuben without corned beef, is another sandwich altogether.  Since that night, I have been craving a proper corned beef Reuben.

Today, I finally scratched that itch. The local corner cafe had a Reuben special today. It was good, not great, but good, and like I said- it scratched the itch.

And for the record, any sandwich that calls it self a Reuben must contain Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and french dressing. That sandwich with turkey and coleslaw that some will try to pawn off on you as a "California Reuben" isn't a Reuben at all. It's blasphemy.

In completely unrelated news,

Our puppy, Logan, likes to roll in stuff. This afternoon, behind our backs, cute little Logie-bear grabbed a couple strawberries, smashed them into our carpet, and began to roll around in them.

While we didn't notice him rolling, we did freak out a bit as he proudly trotted into the kitchen looking like he had just survived one of the Friday the 13th movies. 

Like I'm sure any good parent, we were relived to find our baby covered in strawberries and not blood.

thanks for reading.

respect.

VANDERBACON 

coffee gazing...

Dear Reader,

Weird weekend. Playing things by ear. No plans.

Managed to get down to the skate-park with about 40 minutes of day light.

It was super fun. Nice group of kids, mostly on scooters and BMX bikes.  Very Nice kids, all kind to the old man wearing a cycling helmet carving around the park.

I was having a blast. I finally pulled off  a rock and roll on the big quarter with coping.

Rock and Roll on a quarter pipe with coping...

 I was super stoked. I had thought about trying to do some 50/50 grinds on the benchy-thing coming off the quarter, but frankly chickened out/didn't want to waste time floundering too much- daylight was fleeting.  I felt fast pumping through the transitions... flowing... As one of the kids on a BMX bike said to me, "it's a chill sess man..."

There was this really young kid on a razor scooter, a real live razor scooter. He bombed around the park kinda of oblivious to who was around him. At one point I was doing a feeble stall on the quarter without coping and he cruised under me.

feeble stall...

A little sketchy, but he was a little kid, just didn't know better... I credit the older kids because they had great patience and awareness of the young razor kid.

The young razor kid was trying to ride the bench or something, and he ate it hard. It was ugly, as he was crumpled up on the flat. I asked him if he was okay,  he said, "no, I don't think so..." He grabbed his scooter and ran over to his grandmother and tried to be tough and hide the fact that he had started crying. I kept an eye on him, and it appeared he was okay. Grandma was in charge. She had him and hugged him closely. She was giving him the grandma magic Mr. Miyagi massage that made everything better. I could tell, she was cool.

I busted out another rock and roll, and felt the stoke level hit 100%. I carved one last wall and ollied on to the benchy thing doing a nice little board slide. Those board slides are so fun. I can't believe that I can do them.... I clapped my hands, ecstatic with my skating.. SO STOKED.

Sunlight was fading. I kicked up my board and walked over the young boy and grandmother.

"hey, buddy you okay?"I asked.

He looked up at me and said, "yes sir" (I won't comment on the fact that he called me sir).

I put my hand out and gave him a high five, "remember man, everyone falls down. everyone. what's important is that you have to get up. It's getting dark, better hurry up and get another run in...."

He smiled at me, and grabbed his helmet.  I smiled back, winked at the kid and his grandmother and walked out of the park... it was a good evening...

Diane and I were really sad this morning.  Not motivated to ride or do anything. We were gazing
 into our coffee, and kinda dreading the day.Truth is if our friends didn't reach out  to us, we probably 
wouldn't have left the house. It was a pleasure to chase these guys through the woods today. Grateful 
they got us out, and heck another friend tried to get us to boulder today!  It's often on the bike that we can                       clear our heads. Find focus, and often peace. Thank you friends...

Thanks for reading.

respect
that's Mr. Vanderbacon if you're nasty.

Today was a good day...

Dear Readers,

On Monday, I looked at the weather and scheduled a half PTO day for Wednesday. Eighty degrees and sunny, I'm not letting this get away, or so I thought...

Went to work Wednesday, and the shit hit the fan. As they say, the real trouble hits you in some random Wednesday morning, and usually nothing that you ever expect. SON OF A BITCH- I figured, my day was shot.

We scrambled, we hustled, we did everything we could at the given time. My boss and I sat in my office, and I said to him, "hey, I'll hang out here in case something else comes up." He smiled and said to me, " Man, it's 80 degrees and sunny,  we've done everything we can- get out of here and ride your bike, heck, I wish I could join you. I love that man. BEST BOSS EVER.

I had a better day than a dog in a shark suit...

I met up with Buddy the Leg Breaker, CONsorto, and Nick and headed out for an amazing ride. The boys drug me all over the place. I suffered. I struggled. Thanks for saving my bacon gentlemen.

All I could think about was how bad Hell of Hunterdon was going to hurt. I was over my head. It was perfect.  I was suffering up one particular climb and CONsorto asked, "you okay man?" to which I replied, "we didn't all talk vacation today to do something less than awesome." It was a great ride.

Diane got home from work and we went to one of our favorite restaurants for half priced nachos. While not our normal half-priced nacho joint, it is one of our favorite places. The place was packed. A sunny day had attracted tons of college co-eds. They were taking advantage of the half priced nachos and perhaps more importantly the half priced margaritas. Diane and I were easily the oldest people in the bar. Scratch that we were  twice the age of most. But it didn't matter, it was 80 degrees in March and we were having an amazing time.

We worked our way to the bar and watched some kids get up to leave, while another group worked for the stools at the same time as we were. Diane used her superior cyclocross scrum skills and perhaps a little extra hip, and maybe some high elbows, as one sorority sister tried to hone her way into our stools. Diane sat on the stool victoriously,  turned around with a Cheshire cat smile and said to me, " no one out scrums me for the front row!" We both laughed.

Cyclocross Skills Applied to Real Life! 

The owner of the restaurant saw us migrate back to the bar as we waited for a table. We have been friendly with him for a number of years. He came up to us and apologized for the wait. We told him not to worry, it was great to see the place hopping and we were stoked. He asked what we were drinking and offered to grab them for us. He came back, and a little while later came back again, and we chatted, and he got us a second round. He came back and said he had a table for us, I said, let me settle up for the drinks when he said, "your drinks are on me guys. thanks for hanging out with all the kids, and for supporting us!"

FREE DRINKS!!!
I swear it's been 20 years since I got free drinks at a bar/restaurant!  YES !!! Today is awesome!

Buddy and I on a day much colder than 80 degrees

That's right, we're rock stars. That's how we roll all you silly kids and your lame half priced margaritas!

The nachos were delicious, we had a great evening, and kind readers, it was the perfect ending to pretty damn good day.

thanks for reading.

respect
that's Mr. Vanderbacon if you're nasty.

Mark the Shark...

Dear Readers,

This is Mark.

Mark is an Iron Man. He is really strong.
This past weekend, I got to head out on a ride with Mark and some of his peers, lovingly refereed to in the area as the Shark Tank. The ride was going very well. Mark, like a great rock and roll drummer, bangs out the tempo that like the drum beat drives a song, drives the ride. There is a workman like feel to Mark's rides- not Frantic, steady, strong, fast. grinding... There's never one effort that kills me, I just seem to crack in the middle somewhere trying to keep up with the beat...





We had a great group.
On a few hills there was a little, as Mark calls it,  "ick" and "ish".  No one really attacking, just some subtle half wheeling and generally keeping each other honest. It was in these sections that I tried to bluff my way through, but the pictures tell the truth...

You want to take a bathroom break. Sure take your time (so I can recover).

About 1/3 into the loop, we crested a hill together and, Mark announced that he had broken a spoke and his wheel wasn't serviceable. His ride was done.  Mark was not a happy Shark. The rest of us agreed to time trial back and get a car to pick him up. Mark was frustrated to have his ride cut short. 

As we rolled out, we noticed that a couple of guys were cleaning up one of the yards where we left Mark. They were trimming trees and taking down some old tress that didn't survive the winter.

We encouraged Mark to help the guys out, you know to keep warm and get a work out.












Rumor has it that when Mark was picked up the yard looked like this:




Photo blog starts now:

Fruit Tree

Ghost

Potter not a fan of this Catalog.

thanks for reading.

respect
that's Mr. Vanderbacon if your nasty.

a blog about the trainer...

Dear Readers,

I've never been a big fan of riding indoors.

That I hurt myself doing too much on a trainer last year, hasn't help my opinion of indoor riding.  I know sometimes it's a necessary evil. I'll admit I've been blessed enough to generally get to ride outside way more than inside. I have a rad LeMond direct drive trainer, which is the closest to well not riding a trainer but it's still riding indoors. My brother swears by trainer road, and lots of folks seem to like Zwift.   Both systems are designed to make something horrible perhaps a little less horrible. I fully understand the benefits of trainer and how it  an work very well for folks with tough time restraints. This is a tough game we chose to play.

As spring is starting to break, it can be especially hard this time of year for me to stay focused enough to jump on the trainer. Temperatures start to creep up. Daylight savings gets closer everyday.

that said, from time to time, it's what needs to be done. A necessary evil.

this week I had a day conspired against me, weather, work, nachos all came together to create a situation where riding the trainer was the only option for a ride. Looking down the barrel of the Hell of Hunterdon- I jumped on.

Fear can be a great motivator.

I came to the final 5 minutes of my final effort. I was suffering. I was pretty exhausted.  I thought to myself "just cut it short and call it a day." Then, I thought about the races where I lost spots on the last lap, and quickly wiped that out of my head. "All the way to the finish" I said to myself. I bit my lip, rolled my eyes back in my head, and I stood on  pedals. 4 minutes to go...

I finished in a heap of sweaty mess.

thanks for reading.

respect
fatmarc