Yes, this is me - on a bike - on the road - in a light drizzle - pedaling! How could this be? Track bike/equipment considerations
Ben Faulk: TotalCyclist Coach
With the new Giordana Velodrome in Rock Hill, SC soon to be open, many racers who have never ridden the track are going to get to try it. I do think this article can help answer questions for several people in our area. I hope so. Track racing is exciting and very different to what many experienced racers around here are used. I’ve had several people tell me how excited they are to try it out. A few of those have asked me about equipment, probably because I’m fairly vocal about track racing (and I’m a bit of a geek). If you read this and have more questions, I suggest checking out www.fixedgearfever.com where there is a lot of info from a lot of people that know a lot more than I. Just search the forum for what you are looking, and you are bound to find some discussion on the matter. If not, just ask. That question may spark a long conversation… or debate.
The 2011 Mountain bike season finished strong for TotalCyclist athletes!
A select group of TotalCyclist mountain bikers took on the annual Swank 65 in Pisgah National Forest. This 38 mile race includes some of the most rugged terrain in Pisgah including the notable Farlow Gap trail. The race begins at 2500 feet, and consists of a triad of cloverleaf shaped loops winding around Gloucester Gap in Pisgah National Forest.
Mike Schaffer placed 32nd, 4:21:11 in the top 19% amongst all male racers. Jeff McConaghy placed 50th, 4:35:26, in the top 30%. Garrett Hyer placed 61rst, 4:43:29, in the top 36%. Donald Butler Placed 123rd in 5:45:04, and Terry Gleason placed 145th in 6:13:53 Chad Hollingsworth exceeded all goals by finishing in in top 40 and top 15%.
There were 200 registrants, and 192 finishers.
Good grief..the weather is awesome. The desire to keep riding and riding hard is so overwhelming that you ...just...can't stop. It's spectacular. I mean, c'mon coach. It's 65 degrees and sparkling blue skies. The trails, the roads, the water are all calling me!
Don't listen to that inner voice. Why? Because if you give yourself a break now your body will thank you in April and May and August.
Wait. Your telling me to stop doing what I love? NO! Just find something to supplement your passion. Your a mountain biker? Try the road, or a walk or a jog or Yoga or golf.
Our theory. Ride. Run. But only have one hard workout a week until January. It will do wonders for your 2012 Season.
Heck. Join our Winter Training Series. We guarantee you will have lots of fun. It's a change AND it gives you that one good workout a week!
Cricket Butler Via The TotalCyclist Mountain Bike Team BLOG
Yes, this is me - on a bike - on the road - in a light drizzle - pedaling! How could this be? 
Since the last blog I've transitioned to the gym, added some nice workout "pairings" and have made some ground on the strength/balance side of plan 'x'. Sure there are some typical type moves that one might see as u special, but it's the way we execute that makes them very specific and extremely effective. Wanna do pull ups? Well, you gotta make sure you go all the way down on each rep, do them slowly and don't let your body sway at all. Much harder than the way we did them in the infantry (well, the non-rucksack ones anyway). Paired with this is an elevated split squat. The elevated foot is resting on the toes so stability is low. In fact that's the common thread in all that I've done with Mark: work an area but work in a way that increases strength AND stability. One of my favorites is an inverted row that's very unstable and then paired with a single leg dead lift.
Now for the crazy and...
A few days of reflecting on this past w
eekends big race leaves several memories that I must talk about. I personally feel the solo SS class win comes in at the bottom of the list. The best parts of the event are the fact that Sherry came back from her ACL surgery to race for 9 laps (85ish miles) on a SS, win the event, and not even be sore the day after. WTH?? I hurt all over, heck even my eyelids are sore. Second, Megan our 16 year old daughter. Poor girl doesn't even ride bikes but for her to get her drivers license we asked her to go out there and ride till she could ride no more, and dang it she did! She ended up with 5 laps(48ish miles) on a SS. all I can say is WOW!! My first race was the Cowbell in 2009 were I crawled 4 laps(32 miles), laid down in the grass and watched buzzards circle overhead. If this Tree Shaker would have been my first race I would have got chicked by my daughter!! now that's good...
Chris Wieczorek via the TotalCyclist Mountain Bike Team BLOG:
Saturday saw my first return to see Mark Kane and continue my implementation of plan 'x'. Don't ask why it's plan 'x' as I don't really have a reason other than it's easier to refer to something if it has a name. Besides, plan 'x' sounds sorta cool like it's an x-men experiment and I'll come out the other side strong as hell but with some sort of abnormality like poor vision and a slight onion tolerance. I'd rather have a tolerance to wild animals though.
Anyway, it was time to begin work on the areas of concern that were highlighted 
by the assessment; more specifically my back and glutes. I fall into the 'I sit all day and don't do shit' category when it comes to daily, general activity. Therefore, one thing that tends to happen is my glutes tend to switch off or go to sleep. The trouble is they stay that way and when I try to ride a bike or perform any complicated sports move they don't contribute as they should, leading to reduced performance. We began with some simple exercises to wake up the lazy ones and then moved on to a few more advanced exercises that are designed to engage the entire core but also focus on my weak areas. One is called the Inchworm. Essentially, you begin in a downward dog type position and slowly slide your hands out in front of you as...
My recovery began immediately with my leg in a Continuous Passive Motion (CPM) machine the day after surgery. Per doctor orders, I used the CPM for 8 hours a day to reduce the formation of scar tissue in the area. Yes, that is right - 8 hours a day for 2 weeks!! This machine became a mental torture devise as I had to sit around and watch my knee go up and down with no effort on my part but the benefits became apparent. Mobility came back rather quickly and has been consistently increasing as time passes. Along with the CPM, I started Physical Therapy (PT) 3 times a week with Mark Kane (www.kanetraining.com) just 2 days after surgery. The use of manual therapy of the soft tissues supporting the knee and active movement exercises in combination with my time on the CPM is working. The CPM is...
Chris Wieczorek via TotalCyclist Mountain Bike Team:
While many of my teammates and friends have been gearing up for the last few races of the season, I've been avoiding the bike (per Chad's orders of course). Yea, this year I decided to cut the year a little short (just after River's Edge) and focus on next year. I can't say 2011 racing was all that great to me - or rather, I wasn't that good to it. Things went up and down, left and right and there were only a few times this year when I felt strong and competitive. So, the break was a bit of a welcome and my brain immediately began working out strategies on how to make 2012 better. Long story short and with Chad's help, a plan has been devised and recently hatched.
One of the primary components is balanced strength and body movement. It's way too easy for some of us to get wrapped up in cycling alone. I'm guilty of it; hell, all the exercise I do for the majority of the year is on the bike and I also have an office job that requires me to sit all day. A lot of us end up stale and unable to achieve our full potential simply because our body is not working as a single unit. Our tea
m is very fortunate to have Mark Kane as one of our primary sponsors and this year I'll be relying on him to ensure I'm doing everything I can to be a better complete athlete. I met with him on Sunday and he conducted an initial assessment of body movement, strength, stability, muscular balance and soft tissue. You know, it was my first time doing anything like that and man was he thorough. He quickly found areas where I was weak or overly tight that can have major impacts to one's ability to ride a bike (not to mention live an active life).
You can read more about what Mark does here, but the quick version is that we conducted the Functional Movement Screen which is basically an assessment...
Face Punch!
TotalCyclist athletes finished the MTB race season with a Face Punch 
Cackalacky 500 Cup
Robert Fish and his race partner Shawn Ulikowski WON the Mens Duo
Tracey Lewis (TotalCyclist MTB Team, rocking the PINK kit) WON the women's Solo!
Scott George (TotalCyclist MTB race team) Won the men's Solo!
Donald Butler 4th in Men's Solo
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Robert Fish and his race partner Shawn Ulikowski WON the Mens Duo
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TotalCyclist Athletes also participated in the highly competitive but FUN New Belgium Urban Assault Ride. It consisted of some zany antics known as the "Funky Bike Scavenger Hunt". But, it was highly competitive from the gun!
TotalCyclist Athletes:
Jeff Smith and Wade Carrol: 2nd Overall Men
Jeff McConaghy and Donald Butler: 3rd Overall Men
John Rosenblatt and John Slawter: 17th overall male
Laura Gleason: 5th Overall Female
Stephanie Cole: 12th Overall Female
Anne Viscount and Bobbi Hitchcock: 21st overall Female
