Butterfield Double

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In my haze as I left the comforts of bed at 455am I was reminded of all the training I’ve done in preparation for long bike events: being a paperboy. For almost four years (14-17 yrs old) I delivered 60-80 newspapers in my neighborhood by bicycle every day. I knew exactly how long my route took and slept as late as possible (530am) so that I would have to leap out of bed, get dressed and be outside on my bike by 535am. If Donna the Secretary from the High School did not have her paper by 6am I would hear about it later at school.
As I got older I started staying up until the newspapers were dropped at my house at 2 or 3am, sometimes even leaving parties, doing my paper route and then returning. Once I even convinced an older kid to drive me around in this girl’s convertible and we took turns throwing the papers at peoples’ stoop. That job was a requirement from my parents, who got sick of buying me new bike parts every time I broke some forks or cranks. I learned quickly about the exchange of labor for payment and it did not take me long to realize that the less money I spent, the less I would have to work…

So 15 yrs later I am off on my bike at 515am riding to the start of the Butterfield double century. Rolled up just as the main group (150 or so) were leaving (my tardiness would of let my paper route boss down). Still had to run in and drop my bag, but I caught up a few miles down the road. This soon to be renamed route is new, covering some of (sub)urban OC, coastal areas like Laguna, Newport Beach, San Clemente and Oceanside, Canyon areas in East SD County and South OC before ending back in Irvine. Whenever I ride the section of bike paths along the coast and through the bike tunnel I think about my bike trip to Belize with Justin. We rode this section before we entered Mexico, Guatemala, Belize…only 5 short years ago!

Back to 2008. I rolled with the front group for 45 miles, got dropped. Rode with another group, got dropped, then, after I patched my flat, ended up with a couple of guys about my speed. It felt so good to be on my bike, pushing a bit. Why pay money to do an organized ride when you could ride it yourself?
1) You ride harder and you won’t shorten the mileage for some made up concern which is easy when you are out there alone.
2) To get stoked by others. Like Timmer, a 54-yr old guy who lives in Mammoth and commutes to work on his fixed gear in sub-zero weather. Or Chris, who has done iron-distance triathlons all over the world and flew out from Chicago for this (below).

Finished in 12hr 35min. Results and report here.

The trip back to LA this morning was amazing. Wish every day was a holiday. Empty trains, empty roads… and this jewel on my street:

Feel My Legs, I’m a Racer 2008 info

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A Swarm! event. Tell others.

Sat Feb 23
Feel My Legs, I’m a Racer
10 hills, 10 stages, 1 morning
A race for some, an epic adventure for others.
It is a tour of some of the less traveled streets in Los Angeles, from downtown to Silver Lake and beyond.
There is no entry fee and limited support. No car support please, spectators welcome on bicycles (you won’t have to ride the hills).
Just riding up any one of these hills is an accomplishment. 10 in one day is seriously hard. Be prepared.

Meet at Sunset Blvd and EdgeCliffe Dr. (Silver Lake Farmers Market)
Sign-up at 845am, leave at 915 (!!)

Last year’s report
GPS data from last year
bikeswarm.org

The 196 Pound Vegan

Posted on by Matt Ruscigno 6 Comments

An NFL player? An Ultimate Fighter?
No, it’s me.

I’m up 20 pounds from my ‘race weight’ (I’ve never used that term before) in May 07. Too many Vegan Treats? Too much reading/internet and not riding?
Partially.

The result of my weight gain is actually the result of taking my training a little more seriously. Here are a few explanations:

  1. Last year I was pretty fit by March. A fast double and a marathon on the first weekend (write-up here) and some good events in April and May. I had trouble keeping my fitness up for Norseman and PBP in August and by September I was done. That’s why I backed out of doing the Furnace Creek 508 in October.
  2. I’ve been hitting the weights pretty hard, three or four times a week. An Olympic runner at the YMCA wrote me two workouts specific to triathletes and they are ‘killer’. Mike T and I bro down hard.

My logic is this: Build a stronger base (literally) further into the ‘season’ and carry weight for longer (to maximize muscle development). When I trim up from the heavy volume of the Spring I’ll definitely lose pounds and aim to be where I need to be later in the year (full-iron in August, 508 in October). The question is this: Will being able to bench my weight or do 45 hanging crunches make me a better swimmer, cyclist or runner?

Since I am on the topic, here is the workout schedule I attempt:

Sunday- Long run (2+ hrs) or long bike (4+ hrs)
Monday-Swim (3o-60 min), Weights (1.5hr), Pilates (optional)
Tuesday- Tempo run (20-45 min)
Wednesday- Bike (2 hrs), Weights (1.5hr), Pilates (optional)
Thursday- Maintenance run (30+ min)
Friday- Swim (technique or long), Weights (1.5 hr)
Saturday- Long bike or run (depending on Sunday), weights (optional)

Urban-Train-Road-Dirt-Road

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In how many cities can you take a 20-min train ride to mountain bike trails? Thursday morning Budge wanted to take out his new single-speed 29er (fixed gears are so 2005. 2008 is all about SS 29ers) so we rode 10 minutes to Chinatown and hopped on the Gold Line to Pasadena. We ran into an urban planner friend of mine on his way to Pasadena for a meeting about their new ‘Bicycle Boulevard’. For us, we had a short jaunt through a neighborhood and we’re at JPL.

It’s a bit of everything back there. Long, dry climbs, with beautiful views. For the single-track it’s cold and wet with multiple stream crossings (record rain fall in LA has led to snow at high elevations and heavy flow in the rivers).

I pinch-flatted twice riding the cross bike (700×32 knobby-less tires), but otherwise, what a great way to spend a week-day morning! We rode back home along the Arroyo-Seco watershed past the Rose Bowl and through Highland Park. Budge tried to talk me into eating at Cinnamon Vegetarian, but I actually had to get to work.
His blog has some more photos.

The thermometer in our kitchen.
Who says it doesn’t get cold in LA?

Cross over?

Posted on by Matt Ruscigno 2 Comments

In racing Cyclocross I should have some advantages. It is mostly off-road with some (slightly) technical sections, tight turns and running sections. I can ride in packs, throw elbows and my bike is decent. My first cross race went poorly, but I can blame that on the limited clearance on my bike. So for last race of the series I was ready to race.
I hopped on a commuter train out of Union Station that dropped me within a few miles of the Bonelli Park in San Dimas.
Because it was a UCI race, the 2.7 kilometer course had to start and end on pavement that was LONG with a 180-degree turn and a small incline. After that was a long slight downhill on gravel, then double-track before the grass sections and tight turns. On the first lap I stayed with the front group: it was tough, but I wasn’t completely blown-up. My plan was to break after the grass downhill that went off a curb into the pavement section. I wasn’t the only one with this idea and when a few others broke I tried to hang on but totally blew up. Done. Then I couldn’t shift into my big chain ring. I rode the next lap with a second pack, then couldn’t hang on through the soft, pseudo-mud sections.

After the second lap it wasn’t fun anymore. About this time Jack, Kyle, and Jim C. showed up and I could hear them yelling ‘Swarm!’ and other things to me. I have suffered through long races, but the kind of suffering that comes with super high output is so different. It wrecks you like nothing else. Concentrating enough to make the turns was tough. My whole body ached. And this is only a 35-minute race! At one point I got caught by a guy on a single-speed mountain bike. On the pavement. D’oh. 16th out of 23.

Sure, I have not trained at a high output level and it is a different sport, but man I thought I was going to do much better. Very humbling. Overall I am sold that Cyclocross is fun and I know what I have to do differently. Next year?

Jack, Jim C (both from Orange 20 Bikes) raced on fixed gear

Jim, Cole, Kyle and Jack (team beard?)

Jim C. tried to jump the barriers

Kyle on his way to 3rd in Single-speed B

Hook Your Thumbs!

Posted on by Matt Ruscigno 2 Comments

Last night I was riding back from the YMCA over the 1st bridge, which is under construction because of the Gold Line Extension to East LA, and I took my first-ever road spill. I’ve fallen off a bike many (many!) times between bmx, mountain biking, track-bike tricks, etc, but never JRA (Just Riding Along).

I was distracted momentarily when a construction worker I did not see made some noise to my left as I rode up to the apex of the bridge. It was nothing though. I went back to thinking about what I was going to eat for dinner, when a bunch of flashing lights in front of me came into view on the end of the bridge as I was beginning to go downhill. That was enough for me to not see the big rocks in the lane. I flew over the bars so quick I barely had time to react! I’ve almost been thrown over the bars before riding my track bike, so I know how to get out of it, but the combination of leaning forward (looking ahead) and my downhill speed I was sliding along the ground before I knew it.
Reacted quickly enough to make sure I wasn’t in any traffic and to grab my bike before someone drove over it. My bike was fine and I only had a scrap so I hopped back on and rode the last mile home. Jack (thanks!) had just put on a whole new drive train, including a rear wheel he built up for me, but everything was fine.

When I got home I made a giant bowl of popcorn
(Always looking for an excuse to post food pics)

Glendora Mountain Road

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On Saturday I did this loop that was way more epic than I had planned for:

East toward Mt. Baldy after crossing the San Gabriel River

The backside of Glendora Mountain Rd

Looking toward LA, 50 miles away
There’s a fire somewhere in E. LA
You can see highway 39 along the river

Next time I want to connect and go over to Mt. Baldy. I heard there are 20% grade sections!

Sunday I rode the OC Rebels 46-mile ride with Nicolas. With my to/from miles I ended up with 75 miles for the day. I only ate a clif bar and a banana all morning so those miles were a little tougher than they should of been.

Cyclocross- First Race

Posted on by Matt Ruscigno 2 Comments
‘Well, it’s kind of like mountain biking, but you are on what looks like a
road bike and you have to hop these barrier things occasionally’

Sunday I raced my first cyclocross race. It was down in Palos Verdes, on the route of a great road ride called the PV loop. Had aspirations of riding there, but the threat of rain crushed them. Check this out though: I found an express bus leaving Union Station (8-min ride from home) that gets to the top of Hawthorne Drive in PV in 1hr and 10min. It’s 45-min in a car. From there I coasted a few miles downhill past the million dollar homes to the start.
There are two cyclocross series here the So Cal Cross Prestige Series and the Urban Cross Series. This was race 5 of 6 of the latter. Real cyclocross conditions in the mud and rain? Maybe for the later groups, but in the Beginner 4 race, which was first, it was pure peanut butter-like mud and mostly impassable. Instead of carrying the bike over a few barriers, I had to carry it over 75% of the course. The narrow clearance I have between my frame/fork and wheels only made it worse. I’d come to a stop pedaling down hill! The guys on mountain bikes were killing it. 25 racers started, 20 finished. I got 19th. New forks and back in two weeks?

Mud Bog

Water support for Cole (riding fixed)
3rd place in single speed ‘B’


Actual racing

Off-road city riding

Posted on by Matt Ruscigno 2 Comments
Obviously I am stoked on my cross bike. Yesterday I rode to Elysian Park (the park that surrounds Dodgers Stadium) with the intent of doing a 1.5 hour trail run. Then I hit some trails on the bike. Then some other trails. I ended up riding for 1.5 hours. It is so much fun to ride a cross bike off-road. It’s not as easy as a mountain bike. You constantly have to focus because it is faster and the lines the bike can handle are limited. When you hit pavement it is not as tedious and sluggish as a mountain bike. The perfect bike?
Steevo recently posted about woods in the city in the winter, so I thought I’d shoot some photos of urban trail riding (in not quite woods in not quite winter).

This is a few miles from downtown LA and my house.
Luckily those clouds didn’t produce rain while I was out.


I still got in a 75-min run and home before the rain. Some interesting points regarding Elysian Park:
It’s 600 acres big and touches Echo Park (the neighborhood), Chinatown and Chavez Ravine.
The Eastside of the park is known as a cruising spot for young gay men.
Lots of people walk dogs here. Most people are walking at least two at a time.
The female to male ratio is at least 4:1. The likelihood of a female walking a dog is probably 75%.