Friday, May 22, 2009

Camping with visitPA.com and Cadence Cycling and Multisport Centers

I'm leading a little mountain bike training camp coming up in about a month and since most of you who visit this blog likely do a little mountain biking I thought you might be interested. Here's a blurb from the Mid-Atlantic Super Series page about the camp and a link to our flyer.

"The Mid-Atlantic Super Series is proud to announce as part of our sponsorship with Cadence Multisport The Cadence Endurance MTB Racing Camp. This camp will be lead by Mike Kuhn, the Director of Coaching at Cadence and major MASS race and event promoter. As a veteran road and mountain bike racer including the Ultra Endurance 100 milers Mike is an expert in the correct preparation for endurance events of any type. As a special offer the price of the camp includes your entrance fee into either the Wilderness 101 or the Shenendoah 100. Only 20 spots available so reserve now."

To recap, that's three days of stellar riding, training, and instruction on how to race long distance events and entry into either race for $450. Sweet.

The camp runs the three days following the Stoopid 50. So you can choose to do Stoopid or not and increase the difficulty of the camp by doing so. That's the point of camps though. Camps are supposed to be hard. The idea is that you go into it with a little rest and then spend a few days really pushing yourself. You push yourself much more than you would regularly because the only things you need to do are ride, eat, sleep, and recover --- and have fun! It's like being a pro for a few days - only you don't have the pressure of knowing that if you don't win your next race its ramen instead of steak again this week! Then you rest coming out the other side of the camp and - voila! - you're stronger and faster and smarter and better looking than you were before. Well, maybe not necessarily the last one, but the other three I can guarantee.

The plan for camp is basically as follows. On Monday mid-day we'll meet in Coburn, the start of the Wilderness 101, and do an easier ride on dirt roads to check out the early parts and late parts of the race - these are key in figuring out how to ride this event. Tue and Wed will see us start the rides in other locations in the Rothrock State Forest that will allow us to access different parts of the 101 and over the three days ride almost all, if not completely all, of the 101 course. It will be stellar training and a course preview all in one!

I promise that you are going to come out of the camp far better prepared and far more confident in your ability in endurance mtb events and you'll be ready for your best ever race!

Catch up with me through work - Cadence Cycling and Multisport - 215-508-4300 - if you have any questions or to sign up for this great new camp!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Rockin' It

Okay so we're about a week out from a race that I'm constantly babbling about how awesome it is and how the riding out of RB Winter State Park is some of the best in the state. If you like mountain biking you ought to come out. You don't even need to race the marathon since obviously that isn't everyone's cup of tea. Come out and do the 20 mile XC so you can check out the riding up there and get in the race effort if you're into that sort of thing. If you just want to come out and ride some trails and check out the place a bit then do that - its the only day of the year they'll be marked and there will be people out and about that can help you get around the forest. Now, if you're out there just riding keep in mind that the aid stations are for racers and make sure you take enough to get yourself around, but its a great opportunity to find out what RB Winter and Bald Eagle offer mountain bikers! You will not be disappointed by what you find.

The latest race info is on BikeReg as updating HighSpeedCycling.com is not going so well right now - but you can link right to the exact spot on BikeReg through my site - just click through the visitPA.com Rocktober logo!

Get rockin,
Kuhn

Monday, May 4, 2009

Escape from the Mud at Granogue--MASS #2




This pretty much sums up the day of racing at Granogue yesterday. EPIC conditions. Despite curses toward the promoter, FatMarc V, a fun time was had by many.

A great way to break in your fancy new bike. Shameless but honest plug, the Cannondale Caffine 29er held up fantastic considering the conditions. I did try and clean out the drive train every lap, but no mechanicals or other issues. The top three elites all were on Cannondales....just sayin'.

Thanks to Dennis Smith for the photos.

Some post race video courtesy of Colt.

Elite Mens Podium:
1. Wes Schempf VisitPA.com 2:37
2. Brandon Draugelis Cannondale Factory Team 2:40
3. Rob Lichtenwalner VisitPA.com 2:41

more results at masuperseries.com