Team Continuum, a 501(c)3 not for profit organization, is dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families minimize the disruptions, hardships and uncertainties of everyday life so that they can focus on crucial medical care. We provide immediate and vital assistance – both practical and personal – every step of the way, such as paying household expenses, offering friendship and moral support, and funding health care facilities to enhance the delivery of care, communications and educational services.

Our goal is to maximize and expand our partnerships with endurance sports that mirror the challenges, commitment, hope and strength required to endure living with cancer, as well as the ultimate reward in emerging victorious. Because as a patient, family member, friend, caregiver, or Team Continuum supporter we’re all in the race together.

The first loop, minus the extension, we did at base pace with Bobby. After 50mi Bobby hopped in the car and turned into Caballo Bobbo Super Sherpa. Then Phil and I hammered 30mi as race prep for Hunter Mountain Classic in a few weeks. We had fun and rode hard. At the 73mi mark we decided to turn around and ride one of the descents backwards. Cheese and rice that was a good hard climb. And sticking on Phil’s rear wheel was a good challenge.

At the end of the day we had 80mi and 5k+ of climbing in the bag. Nothing better on a banner weather day.

The race is simple. Bike 4 loops of Prospect Park then run 1 loop. Last year I did the entire race solo. This year Natalie and I did it as a relay. I biked, she ran. She wanted to do a run race of anything 4mi or less, and I didn’t. I hammered the 4 loops on the bike as hard as I physically could after the day before. At one point my vision went a little blury. In transition i passed off the timing chip to Natalie and just told her to run hard no matter what the pace was. Don’t worry about time, focus on a hard effort and it will all fall into place. It worked perfectly. Too perfectly. WE WON!!! Looking at Natalie and telling her we won was a very gratifying experience. We were both so shocked. I think we need to do that again.

Dylan says donuts equal wins

Natalie headed out on the run

At the finish line with Alex, Scott owner of Champion Systems, John

Natalie finishing strong

mocking Tara

Just fining out we won

Bringing home the bacon

Check out more photos at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150701687983725.409926.24525393724&type=3

The day started great. Wake up in VT and turn on the Mountain Chanel. Eat some muesli (The Feedzone Cookbook), coffe, and hit the road to the race. After a shorter than desired warm up, I approached line the for the Cat 5 Under 35 Blue wave for the 12noon start.

My goals for the race were pretty simple. Hang on for as long as possible and fight like hell to catch the peleton if I had the opportunity. I knew I was gonna get dropped, it was just a matter of how far in. Well it happened on the first big selector climb: Juniper. I didn’t get dropped as bad as I expected though. As I came over the top I pushed as hard as possible to latch back on. Ended up riding with 2 other guys and we made good headway. The peleton was right infront of me and I thought we had bridged the gap. Then the winds pick up and they gave me some trouble. One guy in our group was pulling way too hard and I was on the rivet just trying to stay on his wheel. I think that if we had a more even keeled effort between the 3 of us we would have closed the gap eventually. But that one guy just dropped us. I wonder if he ever made it back on the group.

As the race progressed I latched on to groups and riders that I picked up or road by me. There was s good stretch of dirt sections that I was riding with a mountain biker. Following his line was as huge help. But alas, I probably needed 10x more calories than I consumed and the winds, dirt, and climbing took a hold of my legs. There wasn’t much left for me to do other and drop my head and bury myself. I just kept fighting.

Right before the second aid station Phil and Henry eventually caught me. I was pissed. Beyond pissed. I thought I was going to hold them off all day. I would have been really happy with that. I didn’t get my way. The 3 of us rode it in to the finish line together which was pretty cool. I looked at the boys and said “Gentlemen, it was an honor to finish with you, but I’m still f’in pissed you caught me”.

I was so retarded after that race. Nothing better than spending the afternoon asking your body to give every ounce of energy it has.

That's me fighting not to get dropped by Phil

Then I found out that they wrote a cookbook with their pre/during/post training meals and I had to look into. Being that I LOVE to cook, I’m an athlete, AND the book is less than $20 on Amazon…NO BRAINER!

I HATE cookbooks (they are expensive, cumbersome, and usually extremely over complicated food), but this one is awesome. It’s not a massive book and you could easily travel with it if you wanted. The recipes are simple to prepare and the flavors are great. This book has all the small things to take the pain in the ass out of preparing quick and easy nutritious meals. A lot of the recipes rely on a rice cooker wich I’ve come to learn is a staple in most Asian households. A rice cooker seems like a super simple way to have a well prepaired clean (and gluten free) carb around at all times. I can’t wait to take a trip to Chinatown and buy one.

I’ve tried 2 recipes so far and both are tremendous hits. Both were breakfast foods (c’mon, who doesn’t love breakfast foods). The first was a sweet potato hash, quinoa, and poached eggs after a 70mi+ ride. It hit the spot. And I nailed poached egss on the first try. The second was the muesli recipe. I’ve been primarily eating oatmeal in the morning and it’s getting a touch bland and not doing the trick. The muesli was great, refreshing, and filled me up all morning. Plenty a variation available to keep it interesting. I can’t wait to keep trying more recipes.

The spring bike racing season has been going pretty well so far. I’ve accomplished most of my primary set of goals for the season. I think it’s time to step it up a bit. Be more agressive towards the finish of races. Maybe contest a sprint (or at least see what I got in me).

Yesterday and today have been my strongest races this season which is great heading into Battenkill next weekend. Now I just need to rest up and stay sharp for next Saturday.

(pic: driving the pack in Prospect Park at the NYC Spring Series Cat 5 on 4/1/12)

As the weather gets warm, the fuzzy winter legs need to go away. Time to choose your favorite razor, shaving lube (mine is Leg Lube by the way) and get to the task. And hey, don’t be afraid to ask your favorite girl in your life about a few pointers. They are much better at it then we boys are. Here is a step by step from the folks at Rapha:

Just in case you’re somewhat shy about the ritual of leg shaving, here are our instructions to ensure things go smoothly.

Leg Shaving Instructions:

01. Run a sink of hot water. 
02. Soak razor to ensure a clean cut. 
03. Mix cream with water to obtain good lather. 
04. Massage into legs using circular motion.
05. Always shave against the direction of hair growth.
06. Rinse blade regularly for smooth, aerodynamic finish. 
07. Rinse skin with cold water. 
08. Pat dry with a clean towel. 
09. Apply pre-race superstitions liberally.
10. Roll out into the sunshine.
11. Escape 10 kms from home. 
12. Beat friends/ rivals.
13. Repeat frequently.

Last weekend my bike racing season started with the NYC Spring Series in Central Park run by Team Squiggle. There was lots of uncertainty heading in. I had never survived a race in CP and I had no clue if I was strong enough to hang in this early in the season with mediocre time spent in the saddle. As the Cat 5 group approached the line we voted in favor of making the race 3 laps instead of the posted 2. First lap was justas I expected, fast and sketchy. Some people just ride like idiots. Lap 2 calmed down a bit and I just tried to position myself properly and stay out of the wind. No breaks succeed in these races as they are so short and the strength of the riders is pretty solid. As we began lap 3 I tried to get toward the front to make sure I didn’t get hung out to dry if the race sped up and strung out. As we were riding down the west side on the final lap the speed never increased. Felt like we were headed to disaster in a crazy bunch sprint of idiots. I backed off. It’s the damn cat 5 race. No points. No money. Not worth it. I rode up to Rooney and told him to be careful (it was his first bike race ever). Not worth risks in this race. As we rounded the south end of the park the inevitable happened. The sound was horrific. Clashing of carbon, metal, and flesh. I think it started on the right side of the road but I watched people slide right across to the left side of the rode. I managed to slam on the breaks (actually pulled the cable out a touch I think) and skid/drift through a hole in the wreckage. Scary, but glad I was in a good spot. Almost a dozen people went down in the crash and the clean up effort shut down the remaining races. everybody ended up ok minus some injuries, but a rough way to start (and possibly end) your season in the first race.