LIVESTRONG Philly

Hello again friends!

When I first started training for the MS 150, I came across an event for LIVESTRONG Challenge in Philly. I've been a big fan of LIVESTRONG since I started cycling, because of it's ties to cycling in the first place, but also because of their awesome website www.livestrong.com (not to be confused with livestrong.org), where I was encouraged to eat properly and make better lifestyle choices.

So when I saw the event, I felt like I had to ride it. I told Sarah, and she asked me to wait and see how I felt after the 150, to make sure that I would be up for something like LIVESTRONG. I promised that I would wait until the 150 was over, and then make my decision. (This was all an act. I knew I was going to ride from the beginning, I just wasn't saying anything until the 150 was over.)

And so here we are. I felt like I had an amazing ride at the 150, and more importantly, I feel like I have even more amazing rides in me. So, on August 21st, my Roadkill Warriors team mate Travis and I will drive to Philly to take place in the 70 mile challenge. Once again, we'll be raising funds for LIVESTRONG, and the minimum donation is $250. I went ahead and set the goal at $300, just to be a bit over-the-top.

I know many of you have given generously for the MS 150, so if another donation is a hardship for you, know that I will gladly accept your prayers and your encouraging comments here on the Crankset. However, if you're able to give even just $5 or $10 donations, I would be extremely grateful! I'm pretty sure we will have no problem meeting our goal of $300 in just a few short weeks!

Thanks so much for your encouragement and support! Let's keep the wheels spinning!

Godspeed,

Jason

MS 150 Day Two

Hello again friends!

For the second day of the MS 150, I woke up with a bit of pain in a place I hadn't expected. I'm still not sure what I did (it still hurts actually), but I think I slept on my finger wrong throughout the night, and led to some stiffness and soreness. Not a good way to start the day, but it was what it was. We grabbed some breakfast, snagged our bikes from the bike storage room, and made our way back to the road.

The first leg of the journey my team mates showed me some of the finer points of drafting. It was an overcast and dreary day, with a lot of headwinds coming right at us. So ducking behind my friends afforded me the ability to punch the gears, and just go full gas for the first leg of the trip. We did a 15 mile stretch with a close to 20 mph average. I've been riding for a long while now, and nothing was more fun than that.

The second day's terrain was nothing like the first day. There was one hill that seemed a bit monstrous, but even that was pretty quickly conquered. After that last big hill, we got into my favorite kind of riding, long and flat. When I have the ability to set a tempo, and stick to it, there's very little that can stop me. This was that kind of riding, and I enjoyed it immensely.

We stopped at the Ohio state line for the picture you see above. At that point, there were only about 10 miles left. When we came into the town right by the lake, folks had come out to sit on their porches and cheer us on with cowbells and horns and signs. It was delightful. We crossed the finish line with a total time of 9:30:17, which was way faster than I had anticipated finishing. We actually beat Sarah and Jackie to the finish line! We had a celebration meal, complete with ice cream, before we all changed and made our way back home.

I feel like I am a completely different person having finished the MS 150. It was a worthy challenge, and I think I accomplished it swimmingly. More than anything, thanks to your support and contributions, we raised over $1000 to fight MS. That's real money that will go to real people and provide real relief, and so on their behalf, may I again say thank you! This was a total team effort, and all of you are a part of the team.

As I mentioned in the last post, we'll have an exciting announcement today (though I think the blog is already giving it away), so stay tuned!

Godspeed,

Jason

The MS 150 (Day One)

Greetings friends!

Wow! Where to even begin? We've been on this journey together for quite some time, and it all came to a close on Sunday afternoon at Lake Erie.

First thing first, if you contributed to my efforts, or prayed for me, or offered your support in any way, shape, or form, thank you from the bottom of my heart! I was basked in support from friends, family members, and the Westminster Family. So thank you so much!

Friday night we had a dinner for the team, where we heard from a few team mates and friends who have MS. Up until that point, I was really only riding the 150 as a physical challenge. But man, the importance of this ride is so under stated, or at least it was by me. Every dollar we raised together goes towards making new strides in medications to make the disease more manageable, and of course is one step closer towards finding a cure. At the moment, I give you the following numbers to celebrate:

• Together, we raised $1100 for my ride. This blows my mind, as I thought raising the minimum of $250 would be a challenge. You folks are crazy!
  
• As a team, RKW raised over $43,000. That is even crazier to me!
  

(It's worth mentioning, if you have intended to donate either to me personally, or to the Roadkill Warriors, there's still time to do so. I'll leave the link on the left up on the Crankset as long as Bike MS will accept a donation.)

Saturday, Travis and I woke up at the obscene hour of 4:45 AM to drive to Cooper's Lake. At the starting line, I was forever grateful for participating in Pedal Pittsburgh this year, as there was really not a whole lot to rattle me in terms of getting signed in, registered, and all that goes with the start of the event. But before we even knew it, we were rolling out on day one of riding.

I had been aware that day one would be significantly harder than day two, so my focus was on finishing day one strong. The course started with a series of rolling hills, which made it very hard to get into my usual rhythm. But after a few miles, my legs settled into a good pace and we got things going. We rode hard the first fifteen miles into the rest stop. So well in fact, I was strongly considering passing the first rest stop, were it not for the fact that mother nature had been calling me since mile one.

The rest stops were paced about 12-15 miles apart, so we were really just going in short spurts. After the second rest stop, we were traveling at a pretty good pace of about 15 mph, which was surprising for everyone on the team.

I started to notice my training on hills throughout the course. I went into the MS 150 knowing that I wanted to attack each hill, try to sprint to the top, and recover on the downhill on the other side. Hills have never been my strong suit, but I was finding a power and comfort on hills that hadn't been there before. It was amazing!

The only trouble spot on day one was immediately after lunch, where we were met with a massive hill. After eating a full lunch to try to replenish some of the calories that were burned along the ride, I was really in no place to climb a big mountain. So unfortunately that was a hill I would have to walk the bike, so as to avoid throwing up. Luckily though, it was the only time my feet would hit the ground.

Crossing the finish line on day one was an amazing feeling. The faster members of our team were waiting for us at the team tent with food and beer, and we were even met with some of the folks we were riding for. I took advantage of a massage, which felt amazing! We went to bed rather early, ready to tackle the less intense course of day two.

This post is already plenty long, so if you stuck with me this long, I'll let you know that I'll post the recap of day two tomorrow. Also, a big announcement on Thursday (HINT: Cycling season isn't over.)

Godspeed,

Jason

For all the marbles.

Hello friends,

Tomorrow at 7 am (why does it have to be so early?) I will put to an end a journey at least a year in the making.

I've been thinking for a while about what I was going to say in this post. First of all, I need to say thank you to the people who have supported me. Of course, to those who have supported the Bike MS cause financially ($755 as of right now...but there's still time :), but also to all of you who have told me I could do it.

Truthfully, when I first started training, I had some doubts about my ability to finish. But as I was packing last night, there was no doubt in my mind. Yes there will be difficult stretches of ride tomorrow and Sunday, there will be things I'm sure that push me to my limits, but I have zero doubt that I will finish the race.

But no matter how long it takes, no matter what goes on during the ride, I think just getting here has made me a significantly better person:

• I have lost 17 pounds so far. I have 30 more to go to reach my over-all goal.
  
• I've learned how what I eat effects a ride, and how most of what I was putting into my body was garbage. (Sometimes it still is, but I try to make it less and less)
  
• I joined a gym, and became comfortable sitting in a sauna or whirlpool with really old guys who like to complain a lot.
  
• I learned from sites like Livestrong.com and Trainingpeaks.com how to best train for a ride like this, and what a season should look like from start to finish.
  
• I learned that recovery is every bit as important as training.
  
• My commute from work went from 15 minutes on a mountain bike to under 5 on a road bike.
  
• I bought my first road bike.
  
• I commute to as many places as I can by bike now, saving who knows how much CO2 and putting more money in my pocket.
  
• I learned more about the city I live in because I've been lost on my bike in it, and was forced to figure things out.
  
• I took my first group ride, and learned how to support a team.
  
• I have taken the first few fragile steps towards not being afraid of hills. Some day I will look forward to the pain they bring.
  
• I took my face from this:
  

• To this:

I'll have my iPad with me, so hopefully I'll be able to hop on the Crankset and update you guys from the race tomorrow. If not, follow me on Twitter (Freyer28) for updates from each rest stop. And most of all, I covet your prayers. It's supposed to rain at least a little bit tomorrow, so pray that everybody stays upright on our bikes.

I'll leave you with the video I've watched before every training ride this year. Something about this just gets my heart racing and makes me want to be on a bike.

Godspeed,

Jason

What I learned at Pedal Pittsburgh.

Greetings friends!

I meant to post this a while ago, but Blogo, the software I use to update my blogs, has been cranky this week. Given the weather we've had, I don't know that any of us could blame it!

On Sunday I participated in Pedal Pittsburgh, my first official ride. I had been waffling back and forth on what to call it. It wasn't just a ride, because I do those every weekend, and it wasn't a race because no one was racing, so we'll go with official ride. I chose to do the 50 mile option, because I thought that it would do the best job of preparing me for the MS 150, or at least giving me a good guess as to where I stood in my training.

Registration was at 6:30, which didn't make either me or Ian happy. But we got there on time, got all set and registered, and then rolled towards the very un-ceremonial starting line. Rather than an official start, it was more of a "go when you want!" deal, so we took off.

I meant to map a ride, but I completely forgot. Forgive me.

To the best of my memory, the route started out along the trail by the river, which is completely and totally flat. I'd say at least the first ten miles were super easy, and we kept a pretty good pace the whole way. When we rounded the corner and started up Troy Hill is when I began weeping a little bit. Actually, that hill was nice in that it curved around itself a lot, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into until I was already at the top. I've said it before, I'll say it again, hills are 80% mental.

After a quick brake for cookies at the top of Troy Hill, we went for what was probably the most soul crushing portion of the event. The hills were all over the place, and some of them were long stretches of slight up hill, the worst kind! I don't really know where all we went at this point, because I was too busy panting and feeling as though I might die.

After a second rest stop for gummy bears and gatorade, we took off for a slightly flatter section of the route. I started to get a bit more steam in my legs at this point, and really crushed it up a couple of hills, including the one I was most nervous about on the trip, One Wild Place. It is worth mentioning that when climbing a hill, monkey poop is not exactly what you want to be smelling.

After our last pit stop at Highland Park, we cruised down the rest of the way into the South Side. Actually, I somehow accidentally finished 10 miles ahead of schedule after getting lost from Ian at a red light, so we called each other and met up to finish the last ten miles. And then, because my wife and Ian's mom are awesome, we stopped to have a glass of victory milk:

(Me, accidentally finishing)

(Me and Sarah at the finish line)

(Me and Ian at the finish)

(Victory milk!)

All in all it was a tremendous ride! As we ate lunch after the event, I started to ask myself if my legs had more ride in them for when I would have to do 100 miles, and I think they did. Plus, I don't believe I'll have to tackle anywhere near the number and severity of hills that I had to tackle in the 'Burgh, so that would be even a bit easier on me.

I do think I'll be doing Pedal Pittsburgh for years to come!

Godspeed,

Jason

Race Day Traditions

Hello friends!

Sidney Crosby has a hat each and every year that he wears before and after games. He never washes it. As the season goes on, the hat gets nastier and nastier, riped, torn, and sweat stained. I heard that equipment managers try to convince Sid to wash his hat every now and again, but to no avail. This is his game day tradition, and it will not be broken.

Tomorrow, I will take part in my first ever official ride. (I've been waffling back and forth between calling it a race, which sounds more official, but truth is no one will win and there are no prizes, so we'll go with "official ride.") It's called Pedal Pittsburgh, and it's a 50 mile route through a lot of places downtown. I circled it on my calendar a few months ago, knowing that it will be a good indicator of my preparation for the MS 150. Plus, it will help me sort out what I need to do to prepare for an official ride, like the 150, like what to remember to bring and how to prepare for all the weather situations that might come my way (it's Pittsburgh, so literally every weather scenario is on the table for tomorrow!) I think it's gonna be a great warm up ride.

Now I've been a hockey fan all my life, and I've even dabbled in playing hockey every now and again, so I'm quite used to the superstitious nature of the hockey world. Every hockey player has a little game day tradition (or seven) that they take part in before the big game. As I'm sitting down after finishing my last training ride of the week, I'm starting to wonder if there are any quarky little traditions I should adopt for the ride tomorrow. Some sort of good luck charm, some sort of comforting ritual. So far some thoughts have included:

1. Washing and lubricating my bike, in a particular order, with a particular rag just before bed time.

2. Some sort of pasta dinner, to be consumed before every major event.

3. Chocolate milk before and after race day (ok, this isn't a tradition so much as a reality, it's what happens before and after every ride)

4. Like Sid, wearing my LIVESTRONG hat before and after the ride.

5. Traditionally having no traditions.

If you're a cyclist, or really athlete of any kind, what are some of your game day quarks? And would you mind if I stole some of them?

Godspeed,

Jason
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Bike To Work Day!

Hello friends!

For the last two years now, I've been celebrating National Bike to Work Day! Really, almost every day can be bike to work day for me, as I'm only 1.5 miles away from the office. But all the same, today is the day where everyone is encouraged to trade in four wheels for two.

I actually feel like I did a better job of celebrating yesterday, which wound up being a 21 mile day. I've actually loaned my car to a friend, and so I'm going with pedal power for probably the rest of the week or so. At first, I was a bit freaked out by this. You can claim with everything you have that you are a bike commuter, but the rubber actually has to hit the road when you have no other choice. As was the case yesterday, as I had a meeting 5 miles and two HUGE hills away, and no other mode of transportation to utilize.

But it should be mentioned, there is no better feeling than sitting at the summit of that hill that's been buggin the heck out of you, the one that you have feared for an unhealthy amount of time, and you realize you have just conquered it. That feeling is something a person could get addicted to!

Then the day was capped off with a 5ish mile ride home in the darkness with Ian. Night riding was another of those things that really scared me when I first started out, but now I'm absolutely in love with it. It's so peaceful, so beautiful, and so refreshing. Plus, my new rain jacket flaps in the wind in a way that kind of reminds me of Superman's cape, so there are just perks everywhere!

Maybe you're like me, and the idea of using a bicycle as your primary mode of transportation seems kind of daunting at first. Today is a great day to get out and get on the bike. Heck, make it super rewarding, and use your bike to go grab an ice cream or a cup of coffee! But take some time today to experience the freedom and the joy that is being on a bike. You'll be glad you did!

Godspeed,

J