New duds and an epic charity ride

2013 Kits: Here are a couple sneak peeks at the gear we will be sporting this season:

We doubled the number of triathletes on our roster this year (to two) and the tri-suits Travis designed for them turned out great.

Aside from ordering new gear and spinning infrequently on the trainer, I volunteered to ride with the Sheets boys from Cumberland to Pittsburgh in support of Xpedition GAP later this summer. Details are still coming together, but I think we plan to cover 150 miles over three days and all the proceeds will go to families battling childhood cancer.

I rode 26 miles once. It took an entire day and then three more to recover. Granted, it was the North Fork mountain trail and I ran out of water halfway in. Hopefully the trail from Cumberland to Pittsburgh is a little less intense than this

or this

or this

2012 - Not a bad year

2012 was cool.

I first pitched the idea of team sponsorship to my bosses early last year.  I figured the worst that could happen would be a “no” or a “get out of my office”, but to my surprise the response was completely positive.  After showing the jersey prototype designs around, it wasn’t long before we received the official go-ahead.  CONSOL generously gave us enough money to outfit a small team, and by mid-April a box from Champion Systems was waiting in my cubicle.  I handed out the kits the day before Joe and I raced in the Mountain Duathlon.  I grabbed second place in my age group that day while Travis won his class at Mountwood.  The streak of podium appearances we started that day would stand unbroken for the rest of the season.    

CER 2012 had six members; Joe, Jonny, Travis, Kurtis, Mandy, and me.  The six of us participated in almost 50 events in 2012 across West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  We swam, ran, and biked our way across more than a thousand miles and won series titles, overall individual races, and numerous age group titles.  CONSOL athletes were seen by countless spectators and race participants and, as I said earlier, stood on podiums somewhere in the mid-Atlantic region basically every weekend. 

Not bad for a bunch of part timers.  None of us are professional athletes; none of us have a job at a bike shop or get to hang out all day while someone else pays our bills.  We all work at least 40 hours per week, have families, kids, and countless other obligations.   We forego TV, donuts and sleep just to pedal and run miles and miles through the off-season darkness before and after work.  All so we can do it just a little faster the next time out.        

2012 was cool.  2013 should be even better.  CONSOL Energy has agreed to fund our team again, this time at a level that will cover 12 members.  New uniforms and new teammates will be unveiled in the coming weeks and we hope to participate in more races in new venues.  One new event will be the 6 Hour Cranky Monkey mountain bike race in mid-March just outside of Washington D.C.  The blog should have some new features soon too; hopefully athlete bios and in-race video footage.  Stay tuned!