This past weekend I had the good fortune to go back to my old collegiate stomping grounds, Indiana, PA. I was going to Yellow Creek State Park to contest round #5 in the Mid-Atlantic XTerra series. Yellow Creek is a really cool park complete with sweet hiking and biking trails, nature centers, a swimming area with beach and power boating as well.
On the drive up I decided to take in a little more of our beautiful state, and opted for Rte 56 from Bedford to Johnstown. I travelled this route 20+ years ago going to college and still remembered parts, and was amazed by the sights and beauty. From the Johnstown Incline and War Memorial Stadium ("I don't want no stinkin' rut beer") to multiple five plus mile climbs the drive was great.
Sunday came around like the past three weeks in Western PA, rain. The already slick, greasy, water laden trails were only enhanced. About an hour before the race the ski cleared and all was good. The swim portion of the race was distinctly longer than the 800 meters advertised. Oh well, I got in a groove and swam second, third most of the leg. Into and out of transition I went and proceeded to be in the lead after about five minutes on the bike. My Cannondale 29er again worked flawlessly through the prolonged small, yes small, ring climbing. Once I hit the quick singletrack and the forest roads the big wheels just started rolling. I hit the run transition first, with the fastest bike split again. Out on to the soggy trails I went. The run felt great, even on the steep switchback climb it all felt good. With about a mile to go I could see no one was near me and I started to think i was finally going to win* (* I won in WV, but the swim was cancelled) one of these things. Out into the open and there is the finish. I ended up winning by 2:45 over some pretty good competition. The result pretty much sealed my #1 ranking for Mid-Atlantic 40+ regional champ. It also put me in a very good spot to win the National Point Series title for 40+.
Another great race came together in large part to our generous sponsors: VisitPA.com, Cannondale, Rudy Project to name a few.
Until next time.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
The disease is spreading
Thinking back to the last decade i like to think of some peoples lives i have helped change for the better from quitting certain bad habits, to help learning to ride, to even losing weight to get a better quality of health. I'm not bragging here(maybe a little), just a preface to my story.
Yesterday i raced a h2h race in Jersey on the way home from the beach. Always exciting to race somewhere new which has been a theme this season. So i'm warming up and a familiar face approaches me and makes some small talk. I usually rely on Matt Miller or Motormouth Matt to fill me in on names since i have a horrible memory but i was on my own. They were nowhere in sight. Turns out it was last years 24 hours of Allamuchy solo winner Emrah Ayhan. Last year my wife, Sarah , and i raced on a tandem Cannondale Mountain bike at the same race. Point of the story is he thought the tandem thing was so cool that this year he will be entering the tandem division with his son who looks only 12 or so. How cool is that??? Makes me wonder where i'd be now in racing if my father had me riding at 12 instead of breathing second hand smoke at the Beef House . Maybe Sarah and i will see you out there. Way to be a cool father and good luck to you and your son!!!!
Yesterday i raced a h2h race in Jersey on the way home from the beach. Always exciting to race somewhere new which has been a theme this season. So i'm warming up and a familiar face approaches me and makes some small talk. I usually rely on Matt Miller or Motormouth Matt to fill me in on names since i have a horrible memory but i was on my own. They were nowhere in sight. Turns out it was last years 24 hours of Allamuchy solo winner Emrah Ayhan. Last year my wife, Sarah , and i raced on a tandem Cannondale Mountain bike at the same race. Point of the story is he thought the tandem thing was so cool that this year he will be entering the tandem division with his son who looks only 12 or so. How cool is that??? Makes me wonder where i'd be now in racing if my father had me riding at 12 instead of breathing second hand smoke at the Beef House . Maybe Sarah and i will see you out there. Way to be a cool father and good luck to you and your son!!!!
Friday, July 3, 2009
Marysville/rb winter tri
The 12 hour team relay (9hr solo) at the farm was a blast! Thanks to all who made it possible. From Mike's generous in-laws to Bill at gretna bikes for the light demos to all who even rolled up one strand of tape. It all helps the event . To those who missed it , to bad for you. my wife thought it was the best vibe she ever felt at a race. Very fun. In the end for the visitpa team , nancy rocked 3rd in the women solo, while ray and i took the top spot for duo , and wes and yozell got second. Coach Kuhn rocked a duo team also with Chris(From Deuter). They did awesome too with coach doing back to back laps while probably running on zero sleep. For those who stayed up long enough there was an educational q+a at rays camp site which was focused in slogans for your day to day life. Very inspiring. I even learned a thing or too. And oh yeah , the night time trial and short track went off without a hitch too. See you next year !!
While most of the team was racing at the farm , hebe was resting up on the mic for sundays exterra at rb winter. He did a top ten swim overall (yeas my wife beat him) , then crushed it on the bike which gave him a two minute lead overall. IN the end he got passed in the very technical run and lost the overall by only 10 seconds. WOW. He still won his age group by , i'm sure , a significant amount. Way to kill it hebe!!!
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Thursday, June 18, 2009
mohican 100
A few weeks back was the 2nd stop on the NUE series, Mohican 100. After a 8th place finish at the cohutta 100 i was excited to take another dab at these point to point off road centuries. First off , if you even give a 100 a thought for a second , you should go for it. The sense of accomplishment is awesome and the amount of food is amazing. i actually was fatter when i got home from both of these events.
After an interesting drive to Ohio with Brandon, which included a stop at the taco bell managers house instead of a store(gps fault), we arrived shortly after midnight. A four hour nights sleep is always what you want before a 100. The start was at seven a.m. which was super high paced much like a regular XC race. The next 7hrs and 15 min were spent with some of my idols. I got to ride a good chunk of the race with Chris E, which is always cool. His riding style at these races is so smart i cant help to try to stay with him. Climb at a calm but brisk pace, then catch the groups on the downhills with amazing cornering speed and skill all while recovering. Also did quite a bit with Harlen Price which at the end was nice enough of letting me get the extra points since i'm chasing the series and not him. Although we tried like heck to catch the lead 6 riders the entire time it never happened. I was more than happy with another top 10 as the competition at these is some of the top talent in the country. Still not sure what i was doing there but was tickled pink(try to use this saying daily, it's fun) to be there. Next up is relay at Marysville then wilderness 101. PA's premier 101 mile backcountry race.
After an interesting drive to Ohio with Brandon, which included a stop at the taco bell managers house instead of a store(gps fault), we arrived shortly after midnight. A four hour nights sleep is always what you want before a 100. The start was at seven a.m. which was super high paced much like a regular XC race. The next 7hrs and 15 min were spent with some of my idols. I got to ride a good chunk of the race with Chris E, which is always cool. His riding style at these races is so smart i cant help to try to stay with him. Climb at a calm but brisk pace, then catch the groups on the downhills with amazing cornering speed and skill all while recovering. Also did quite a bit with Harlen Price which at the end was nice enough of letting me get the extra points since i'm chasing the series and not him. Although we tried like heck to catch the lead 6 riders the entire time it never happened. I was more than happy with another top 10 as the competition at these is some of the top talent in the country. Still not sure what i was doing there but was tickled pink(try to use this saying daily, it's fun) to be there. Next up is relay at Marysville then wilderness 101. PA's premier 101 mile backcountry race.
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!
"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
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
Sunday, April 12, 2009
northern boyz take the podium
down in santos florida northern boys (left to right) rob lichtenwalner(visitpa.com), Harlen Price(IF), and Ernesto Marenchin(speedgoat) took the podium after a very fun flowing 12hour race.
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