Fireman John

Mount Washington NH

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:18:00 +0000

Last week James Goyet, Mike Tamayo went up to New Hampshire to climb Mount Washington. Probley on of the most difficult climbs due to the weather changes that can occur. After flying into Manchester, NH with no problems. We got our rental car and drove up to North Conway. Pretty killer town with 3 ski resorts almost on top of each other. We must have spent 3 hours in Eastern Mountain Sports just checking everything out. Well with an early rise on Wed we got in the car and dove about 25 mins to the mountain. On the way there it was pretty nice outside with temps in the low 30s and little wind. We got all dressed and signed in and hit the trail up to the summit. The snow was pretty packed down for the most part on the first trail. With in about 15 mins we had to stop and start shedding layers. I was down to a dry fit tee shirt and opened the zippers on the legs of my pants to let some cool air in so I would not overheat. We made it up to Lions Head trail head in about 45 mins. Pretty good time. That is when we put our crampons on and long sleeves back on since we were not going to be moving as fast up Lions Head trail. It was my first time using crampons so it took a little getting use to them. Some parts of the trail were almost vertical. It was crazy to use the ice ax's and crampons to climb up the trail. Now were are getting above the tree line. The winds started picking up and gusting pretty good. We trekked up to this big rock pile and used it for a wind block. Ate a little and readjusted our boots and crampons. At this time we could see a front coming in but we could still see the summit. So we started up to the summit. While trekking up the side of the mountain we were almost being blown over with 70mph+ gust winds and temps down -10. The winds were steady about 60+. So the summit we were. Not bad we made it up in 3 hours. 4miles with 4000 feet elevation change. Then it was gore tex pants and jackets put on. James showed us how to glaciade (slide down on your butt) down the mountain. So we started sliding down. Parts of the mountain that took us like 25 mins to climb only took like 20 seconds to slide down. So we did that when we could. It got pretty crazy when we were doing that in the tree areas. I got a little nervous then. A awesome trip if you like hiking this is a mountain to climb.

Williamsburg Ride

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:16:00 +0000

Sunday 3 of us from our team and James friend Drag went out to ride the old Williamsburg Road Race course. We parked at Wallers Mill Park and went on our journey. I have rode most of the roads with XXX Todd back a few years ago but could not rember all the turns. Luckly we had maps and people that could read them. It was nice to get out and ride some different roads. We ended up with 57 miles. We hit a few small climbs nothing really big. The car wash climb was the worse but still not to bad we all powered up it with no problem. We slowed down once we reached William and Mary's campus. We were flat free all day til about 1mile from Wallers Mill Park. James picked up some glass from a broken 40 oz bottle that was on the road. Over all a great day for riding in Williamsburg. Great temps as well.

Thanks for the picture Josh.

Fuji SL-1

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 19:39:00 +0000

Well I finally got around to building up my new bike frame that I got from our sponsor All About Bikes. I built it up the other day. The bike is built with Sram Red drive train. This bike is super light and really responsive. This bike is ready to hit the mountains for some good climbing with my new 11-28 cassette. I switched saddles to the Bontrager RL. WOW what a nice saddle. After a decent time in the saddle with my old Specialized saddle my butt would begin to get sore not with this new Bontrager saddle. I wish I would have made the switch a long time ago. If anyone is looking for a '06 Specialized S-Works Tarmac in a 56cm let me know I have one in the garage that will soon be on eBay.

Loft Mountain

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:23:00 +0000

Just got back from a weekend of hiking and camping at Loft Mountain. Went up to the mountains with some guys from work. Some just wanted to get away and others wanted to get away and do some hiking along the AT and other trails. We arrived friday around 2. Set up camp and hit the trails for some 5 miles of hiking. Along The Frazier Discovery trail we saw some bear poo but no bears in sight. Like to see one but glad we did not see any. At the halfway point we took a break some took the paved path back to camp and the rest of us head back up the trail for some nice evelvation gain. Back at camp ate some dinner and got in the tent knowing we were going out for about 10 miles the next day.

Day 2:

The day started with a nice view of the sunrise through the trees and cool temps. We all got some breakfast in us and hit the AT. We hiked the AT for about 30 mins and broke off the AT to Doyles Run and Jones Run trail to see some nice water falls. The trails took us down from the summit to the valley. After passing all 3 water falls it was now time to hike up out of the valley. It was about 1500 ft of evelvation gain for us to get back up to the top. Once back up at the summit of the mountain we stopped for a break and some lunch. After lunch we hiked back up the AT for the next 5 miles to get back to camp. Some guys were getting tired and sore. But we all finished back at the campsite with about 6 hours of hiking.

Here are some pictures enjoy!

New View!

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:04:00 +0000

Well the house in VB finally sold and we are now located in Chesapeake,VA. We are very with our house choice. We are in a very quite neighborhood with NO jets flying over our heads shacking our pictures in our house. I'm able to commute to work via my road bike. Very short ride like 20 mins at a easy pace. I'm pretty stoked about being able to do that since fuel prices are still through the roof. I have only had to drive twice since we have moved in. ( approx a month now) Well here is a view of our backyard. More house pictures of the house to come.

ID3 Racing

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Well Allison, Lauren and I packed up the car and headed out to Salem to her sisters house for a weekend of racing. The first day we went to Downtown Roanoake to race. The course was kinda techincal to what I have been racing on this year. It had 5 turns with in 0.7 of a mile. The field started off with about 30 racers. 15 mins into the race my computer fell off. Not sure if that was a good thing or not. So no more mointoring of the heart then. So a few attacks nothing was sticking. Then 2 guys got away and stayed away. After a few more laps there was only 12 guys on the lead lap. I was feeling ok at this time. Heart rate was kinda up but not too bad. On the second to last lap the acceleration went up and I was fighting for a good position. I was kinida hard to move up. So I know that I had to put in a good sprint. The sprint came up and I finished 10th place. Not bad at all I was pleased.

Off to Blacksburg for the final race of the series. Once again the field was a decent size of 30 racers. We started the race on a climb. We all stayed together for the first few laps. The first half of the race was a climb and then on the back side was a nice decent. I was feeling really good in this race. It was kinda techincal with the climbs and decents. About midway through the race the field was destroyed leaving only 8 riders on the lead lap I belive. With the bell lap comming up I placed myself in 3rd wheel. Knowing that the finish was going to be a climb sprint. I was ready for it. We started the back of the course and started to decent through the turns when my rear tire blew out and tacoed the rear wheel. That was pretty scary since we were in a turn at about 30mph. Needless to say that I DNFed the race. Well that is racing but I was pretty upset not to finish the race when I was feeling so good. Next year I will be back!

Thanks to Allison for talking all the pictures.

In the zone

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Yesterday Todd and I went up to Sherando to do some mountain biking. The tempature was in the upper 80's. The only time the heat was an issue was on the switch back climb. I did alot better this time then last. Only had to walk the last switchback and ahalf. Still not good on riding the switch back so I have to walk the bike around the switch back. After we finished the climb it was on to Torey's ridge. That place will put you in the zone, as Todd told me it would. Once at the top on the ridge line it was very breezy and that felt good. Over all it was a good day in the mountains. I felt like I lost like 5lbs of sweet.

Been a While

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:12:00 +0000

Title says it all. I has been a while since I have posted. I hate posting without pictures. I hope this will be the last one for a while without pictures. My camera went bad. Well I have been racing, working and hanging out with the family. I have been racing pretty good so far this season. I scored a nice 4th place finish in the VA State Crit a week ago and scored a 5th place this past weekend at Langley Speedway. The Langley race was the first race to get paid in. I was pretty stoked with that. Not much money but money is money when fuel prices are as high as they are.

Still have about half the season to go. My goal is to be upgraded so I will be in the same category with the rest of the team. Also been getting in some long rides getting ready for the SM100 coming up in the end of August. That is it for now. See ya on the road.

Weekend of Racing

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 13:19:00 +0000

To start the weekend of racing off we started at the Sportplex in Virginia beach. I did the Cat 4 race only since the masters race was right before the Cat 4 race. The race started off slow which was a good thing. Then after a few laps the speed increased. There were a few attacks here and there but nothing stuck. The race came down to a field sprint. I was in pretty good position coming into the final turn. Then started my sprint. I got up to a pretty fast speed and was reeling guys in til I had to hit my brakes and then restart up my sprint due to traffic in front of me. Still came out 9th place. Not a bad of racing.

Sunday came the rain and also the Casey Auto Crit. I was already signed up for the 30+ and the Cat 4. So off to Newport News I went. Got there and it was not raining bad yet. After warming up a little with Teammate Josh. We went to the start line. The rain started and did not stop during the race. Only 16 of us started the race. On the first lap the guys were hitting it pretty hard. I was holding my own. Until the attacks started. I belive 5 guys broke away and stayed away. Josh tried to pull me back up to the group but I just could not get on the wheel. So I just keep my pace up. After a while myself and a Natures Path rider were taking turns pulling each other around. Then it came down to the last lap. I was not sure who was who at that time and I know I need at least to be in the top 10. So I started my sprint and finished 9th over all. Thanks to Josh for keeping me going. Mission accomplished.

Teammate Kyle and I did the Cat 4 race The roads dried up and the rain stopped. Nice I was thinking. After the race started the attacks started again. I was not wanting to chase anything down since my legs were not really feeling it. Elliot Obrien attacked and stayed away. No one really wanted to chase him down. The race was going good til about 3 laps to go when there was a crash near the start/finish line. I heard it and just kept the pace the same. That threw me up in the top 10. Then on the back stretch of the course I made my was up to be 3rd wheel. I was like great position for the last lap. On the last turn we were really hitting it. I know my legs did not have alot of gas left. So I put the best sprint I had and ended up 8th over all. I was happy with that.

A great weekend over all I had 3 top 10 finished. No pictures on Sunday due to the weather. Thanks Kevin for the picture above.

Fat Frogs Langley Crit

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:15:00 +0000

Well I made it out to the Fat Frogs Langley Crit on Sunday for some speedway racing. I did the cat 4 and the 30 plus race. The cat 4 race was pretty smooth til the last few laps it started getting kinda crazy but everyone stayed up right. Being it was on a speedway the race was pretty fast. I had an average of 26.6mph for the entire race. Pretty fast for a cat 4 race. I made it up to the front and did some pulling, but after seeing nothing was going to stick I just decided to set up myself for the sprint. It was hard to hold back from going after the 100.oo prime not saying I would have got it but I still sat in and rode with the pack. When I saw the lap board read 5 laps to go I made it to the upper half of the pack. On the last lap I thought I was in good position but that was wrong I went into the last turn and and had a train pass me on the outside and that was the position to be in. So I gave it a little sprint knowing I was not going to take the win and came in 17th and teammate Kyle came in 12th.

Now after a little break and some lunch came the 30 plus race. This was my first masters race. I lined up on the track with teammate Jon Nisbet. After the false start with myself, Kevin and Danbo we regrouped. I started looking around and seen that the field was stacked with alot of fast guys. My whole goal was to stay with the group and finish with the group. Well after a few laps 4 guys broke away and stayed away. Then about 20 mins into the race 5or 6 guys were off the front of our pack and I decided to see if it was going to stick. So I went for the bridge and hit it pretty hard and gave it almost all I had to get up to them. They were about halfway down the back straight away and we were in the first and second turn. I made it just about the all the way to the guys when I looked back and seen that I brought the rest of the guys with me. That was cool to me since we were all back in the race together. The rest of the race was fast! Teammate Jon Nisbet was not feeling all that well. But he set himself up in the last few laps for the field sprint. I think he was like 4th in the field sprint. I finished 22nd out of 36 riders. Not bad for me. I downloaded my power tap after getting home and it showed that it was a fast race. The race average was 27.8mph for 50 mins.

Well see you guys this weekend at the Sportsplex!

Dismal Dash TT

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:02:00 +0000

1:07:50

Well this was my true first TT on my New Orbea TT bike. What a great time I felt I turned. With a time of 1:07:50 and 22mph avg I felt good. I almost felt like I could have did a little better if I had a computer on the bike. Oh well maybe next time. After a teammate came in(Kyle) he told me to save some energy for the ride back. So on the way out I tried to keep the heart rate up but not to high. At the first turn it my time was around 13 mins and then the turn around it was around 31 mins. After the turn around to come back it was like hitting a brick wall. I knew I had to really push it to beat my time last year of 1:17. So I just got into a zone and worked. After making the last right hand turn I knew it was not long then. I hit the turn around 50mins. So I ramped the heart rate up and hit it as hard as I could to the finish line. Over all I was stoked with my time. Now I have something to shoot for next TT out there. Thanks to ABB for putting on the race and for keeping the rain and heavy winds away.

Snowball Crit #2

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:46:00 +0000

Yesterday was the second Snowball Crit out at the Sports complex in Virginia Beach. Glad to see that the wind settled compared to Saturday's wind. The race started out with 2 laps that at a slower speed then the attacks started happening. One group had a breakaway and with Josh in it and a few others. I thought it would be great to have 2 teammates in the breakaway. So I attacked and headed to the breakaway group. After attacking into the wind I was close but a far away at the same time. The gap was to big to bridge up. I fell back into the pack and recovered. I spent most of the race in the front half of the pack. When 5 laps were left I decided not to try to work any more and have some energy for the Field sprint. The second to last lap the pace picked up and then the last lap it felt like everyone set up til the last 2 turns when the paced picked back up and the sprint started. I was feeling good when the sprint started. I got out of the saddle and started my sprint and had a rider sitting in front of me so I had to dart around him and ended up with 4th in the field sprint. Jon took the overall win. Good job Jon. The team looked good in yesterdays race. See ya at the VBW Smackdown this weekend!!

NC Road Race

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 14:19:00 +0000

Well yesterday James, Jon and myself drove down to Sanford,NC to a 3/4 road race. About a 4 hour drive with only 4 u-turns. Not to bad. So after finding the race site. We get the car unloaded and head up to get our numbers. Well first thing first. They have no more pins to pin your numbers to your jersey. #2 no toliet paper in the 4 porta- johns. After getting some baby wipes we were good to go. Then comes #3 we line up and start the race. It started of with attacks right of the jump. Just rember we have 56 miles to go. The race started with a nice little climb and then some rollers. Well we were comming down a hill and onto the flat road area. I was on the outside of 3 wide and near the back of the field. When a paper cup blew in the road way and someone got out of control and caused a nice big crash at about 30mph. I went to the left and locked up my breaks and lost a rear tire and then road over someone on the ground and lost my front tire and bent my rear derailer. So im out of the race with .82 miles of racing and about min &45 secs into the race. Not a happy camper at this time. Jon and James went on and did some training on the course as I waited for someone to come back and pick me up. Well that did not happend. So I had to walk back to the start line. Well just hope the rest of the season goes better.

New Years Day Ride

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 00:53:00 +0000

Well today the Wheelmen went out for a team ride today out in the windy section of Pungo. Out to the Creeds store, over the Blackwater bridge and back. It was a nice pace heading out with some nice gust of wind coming from every direction( like always in Pungo). Heading over the bridge towards Blackwater was a bear especially for Tim and Jennifer as they were on a tamdon with a very strong west wind. Over all a great ride. Much easier on they way back.

T-Bone

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 15:03:00 +0000

This happened a few days ago. Just got my hands on these pictures. This accident happened early Thursday morning on RT 17 out in Suffolk. The van lost control somehow and got sideways when this rollback wrecker hit the minivan. The driver was pinned in the van and the passenger was ejected out the side door of the minivan. He ended up under the van, between where the rear wheel should have been and bumper with about a foot of his upper body under the van. When we arrived on scene I was like WOW. Thinking no one could be alive in this van. But after treating him and flying him to Norfolk General he was still living at that time. Here are a few pictures of the accident.

MTB Day

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:31:00 +0000

Well I took out the mountain bike to day to New Quarter Park today. What a beautiful day it was. Just out taking it easy on the trails since it was supper windy back at the beach. There were so many leaves on the ground it was hard at first to see where the trail went. But over all it was a great day on the trails and also back home on the beach cruiser on the board walk. To bad I could not get in touch with xxx himself for some company. Maybe next time.

Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:14:00 +0000

Well after another trip to Velocity my hammys are screaming. So after getting the little one off to the baby sitters I decided to hit the road for a nice recovery ride to relax the hammys. Well heading out the door it looked kinda brezzy but not to bad and the weather was warm. So I said to myself that shorts and jersey would be good for the ride. After getting to Creeds store with a nice tail wind. I started my ride back heading into the wind. The wind shifted a little to the north and there it was nice and chilly breeze. I was like as long as I keep going I will be fine. Stopping in to Contes to use the restroom. I came out and was like burr. Where were my arm and leg warmers. Oh at home! So the rest of the ride was kinda chilly and I was running out of food and just ready to get home. But over all itwas a nice spin for a few 3 hours at a nice easy pace. Now back home and ready to chill and get ready for another day at the firehouse and then 5 days off! See ya on the road.

Perfect Day!

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 19:57:00 +0000

Well today I went on a nice long training ride out to Pungo and then headed west to nearly 168 and back around. Since I did not get a chance to get up to the mountains to see fall colors I had to settle with what little color change there is in Pungo ( too many pine trees). But it was well worth the ride. After shelling the arm and leg warmers it was beautiful ride. After being out for nearly 5 hours I come home to see like 8 different pieces of fire apparatus on my street and in front of my house. I was like wow did my crap burn down. Then I forgot that we are having a marsh fire( i think) behind my house. So after my heart rate came back down I was good to go. Well going to go and get some turkey shopping done and get ready for the turkey day ride .

Blah

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:58:00 +0000

Nothing big been going on here. Just been getting the house ready to sell it and been looking for a new place to live. Went to Velocity again last night for another good work out. Not as sore as the first night. Today just been hanging out since the weather was crappy outside. Just got on the trainer for a bit and just relaxing before heading back to work tomorrow. Then I will be off to Baltimore for a friends bachelor party this weekend.

Velocity

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:27:00 +0000

Well I started winter training with the Virginia Beach Wheelmen at Velocity last night. Man what a good workout. I knew it was a good work out when I got up this morning to stretch and felt sore. But after stretching it out I felt alot better. There is a good group of guys and girls that are all doing the training as well from Tri Power All About Bikes. After 20 sessions I should be in real good shape!! ( we will see).

Carnage! Urgh!!

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:26:00 +0000

Well after a great weekend with the family and doing some riding, today was not so good. I got up and went for a 3 hour ride this morning and on the way home turning off of Pacific Ave onto Winston Salem I was riding behind this van when he suddenly stopped and made a abrout left turn with no single and no place for me to go so I applied as much breaking force as I could and hit a dip in the road and there went me and the bike slidding right towards the van. Then all I heard was crunch and I was like NOOOOO!! The driver was like I usually dont come this way and I did not see you. I was like no $h!t. We had a few choice words. Nothing really came out of it besides my bike with a bent wheel, broke rear derailer and hanger, toast saddle and some minor road rash, cuts and bruises. Well the good thing is that I dont have any broken bones and can still walk.

5 Day Break

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 14:35:00 +0000

So far on this 5 day break I was looking for some good riding weather. Well it is not here yet. Yesterday I went out and for a moderate ride(3 hours) and was greeted by some nice rain showers. They were nice but it made it more humid then already was.

Today I said it is supposed to be windy so I decided to get up at the crack of dawn for a ride today. It was supposed to be nice and sunny and once again it was nice and cloudy with some moderate wind. Well I went out any way since I could use some good cardio miles. I headed out for a journey. I ended up out in Pungo for a nice senic ride and back to the oceanfront. And still no SUN when is it going to come out. No picutres becasue it looked like rain the whole ride so I left the camera at home. Hope the other 3 days are better with some sun! See you on the road!

My Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 22:42:00 +0000

Well today is my birthday and I started the day going to DVM. Man it must be nice to have a job that you can open the doors 10 mins late and then not even call the first person up to the counter til 15 mins later. Glad that is done 35 mins to complete a 3 min transaction and I was the 3rd person to get called up. Well then I pulled up in my drive way and seen this lady jogging down the street and did not look familiar to me at all. So did not pay much attention to her at all, I live at a dead end street and did not see her start running the other way. So I went to see what the heck she was doing. Well when I found her in the horseshoe pit area that we have she was hugging a tree. WOW. I could not believe I was seeing that. Wish I had my camera so I could have gotten a shot of that. She told me that is was giving her some energy to make it back home. I was like ok but get lost lady. Then since the wind was crazy today I decided to take the longboard out today and get in some cardio in. Hope the wind will die for tomorrow and I can get a long ride in that is needed. Well off to dinner with the family! See you on the road.

Long Week

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 22:36:00 +0000

WOW what a long week at work. Working every other day at the firehouse makes a long week. We did not run alot of calls either making it very long days. Went out for a couple rode rides this week not to mount to alot. Just taking it easy. Well need rest week though. Hopefully next week will bring less wind and more sun for some good ridding.

SM 100

noreply@blogger.com (John Gray) — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 02:24:00 +0000