Climb Time

Getting some early season training done in the Smokies

Last weekend, I packed up the Jeep and drove through the snow to get down to Tennessee for a skills training camp.  It was for days of riding in the mountains, working on cycling skills, making new friends and representing the CER team and our sponsors.  

The skills camp was hosted by Rob Grissom of Positive Performance Coaching out of our neighboring state of Kentucky.  Quick plug here, then I will move on.  If you are wanting to take your training to the next level by hiring a coach, or just have questions about cycling, nutrition or structured training plans, give these guys a look. I highly recommend them! (Can you say 28% increase in FTP over just a few months?)

Now back to your regularly scheduled program....

So I packed up my CER gear, strapped on my new Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech tires, and freshly wrapped my bars in some 3T bar taped. Yeah, I was looking good!  

I pulled up to a cabin on the side of a mountain in Townsend Tennessee and shook hands with some of the guys that have beat me there.  It was a beautiful day and we were all itching to get some saddle time.  Once we got into the cabin and started picking beds for ourselves we discovered that we were not alone in this quiet, mountain side chateau....some one...or some THING had claimed one of the beds, with what was either fun size Twix bars.....or something else. But that is a story for another day! Right. Bikes. That's what we are all here for.

The picture above was taken on our stop during the the kickoff/warmup ride.  Here we discussed pace lines, drafting and communication to get us all on the same page.

Nailed it!

 As you can see, pace line accomplished.  

This is the entire group (minus the amazing camera man) on our second day of cycling as we made our way through a national park. There was a little more climbing here than on the first day, but the real fun was yet to come.

The second day was another beautiful day for riding, with just a bit of wind and plenty of sunshine.  (For those of you in WV reading this, "sunshine" is a term used to describe light coming of of that bright thing in the sky that we saw for a couple days a few weeks back.  It is my understanding that it will return at some point.)

Have I mentioned how awesome our kits look? Well, they look awesome, and if you can peel your eyes away from my jersey, you will see a creek.  At times during this ride, that creek became a river with rapids.  This was the beginning of our fantastic 20+ mile climb to the top of Clingmans Dome!

The Clingmans Dome climb took us from 1480 feet to 6640 feet in just over 20 miles.  It was a heck of a climb!  But don't let those flat landers from Kentucky fool you!  Those guys can climb too! 

Here I am (in my aforementioned awesome kit) with a new friend of mine, Anthony Young.  This picture was taken about 7 miles from the top of the climb at a little scenic park that is situated right before the gate that closed the last part of the climb to vehicular traffic!  Seeing as how "almost the top" is not "THE TOP" a majority of us ducked the gate and continued our quest upward.

Some of the guys had some tire issues due to road salt and cinders on the ride, but not this guy!  Because I was sporting some fantastically tough tires...by Vittoria (insert jingle here).

Now this, my friends! This was THE TOP! At which point I threw my bike from the tower to protect it from the hippie seen here in the bottom left hand corner. 

Ok, so I didn't throw my bike, but I am still pretty sure that guy in the corner is a hippie.

So, that is my story, the PG version any way, and I am sticking to it! (Buy me a beer and I will tell you the uncensored version)

Long story short, I had a great time at this skills camp and I look forward to doing more.  I am honored to have had the opportunity to represent CER and our sponsors, and I am grateful to my coach for the lessons learned and the mountains climbed! Here is to a great season of racing for CER!

Same as it ever was...

The 2013 race season is starting out the same way 2012 ended; with CER on the podium!

CER racers competed in events in Pennsylvania and West Virginia over the weekend.  Scott House finished second in the CAT 5 division in the second ABRA training race, held in Fairchance, PA ( ABRA results).  Scott is riding well already this year and expects a strong start to mountain biking season. 

Mandy Anderson took third overall in the Grafton 5-Miler, held in Grafton, WV.  Mandy set a blistering 7:25 pace and was able to pass the eventual fourth-place finisher with a furious sprint less than 100 yards from the finish line. 

Mandy and friend showing off the hardware

Great job to both of our teammates! 

Southern Exposure

Rob Linger sporting the CER logo on a recent training ride in the Smokies.  Go get it!

Here We Go...

With one training race in the books (good work Rob and Scott), the official start to the 2013 season comes this weekend as Adam and Mandy Anderson compete in the Grafton 5-mile Run .  Not to put any extra pressure on them, but our string of consecutive podium-finishes is on the line.  The burden rests solely on their more-than-capable shoulders as the rest of the CER team will be getting started later this month at various events.  Hopefully the new running gear will bring some good mojo! 

Let’s get the season started right!  Good luck Mandy and Adam!

Team Kick Off Meeting.....

And Burritos! 

Here they are folks! In all their running, swimming and biking glory!  

A couple weeks back, the CER team met up at Black Bear Burritos in Morgantown WV for our 2013 season kickoff event.  It was great to meet the whole team and get our hands on some sweet new CER gear.  As you can see above, our colors are black, black, black and black.....with a touch of red.  So when you wonder why your shadow is bleeding, then going past you, it's probably a CER team member. Our kits were designed by the FABULOUS Travis Olson,and the team all agrees that this new design is quite menacing!

At our gathering, we ate, we drank and we listened as Jason Stewart told us about our Title Sponsor, CONSOL Energy Inc., and how the team came to be.  Notice all the bags behind Jason? That's the good stuff!  

Later in the evening Travis talked to us about our new Sponsors for 2013, Vittoria, Selle Italia, 3T, GEAX, Northwave and GU.  All in all it was a great meeting, with a great team with great support from all of our sponsors. 

Now I realize that I showed you all what the team looks like, from the front.  But to be fair you will probably remember us this way:

Enjoy the view!

Almost here...

Hours on the trainer.  Miles on the treadmill.  The same songs on the playlist.  The same cinderblock wall horizon.  Fluorescent lights and a space heater.  Sweat.  Darkness.  Cold.  Winter.       

Will you be faster this year than last year?  Are you stronger?  Tougher?  Can you hold that 10/10 effort or will you get dropped at the finish line again?  Can you be a leaner, harder version of yourself, or have time and age finally, irreversibly, softened your lines and edges?  

When the last hill flattens out and you know they are coming for you, you know they are better than you, you know they are catching you, what will you do?  Will you let them pull away and then meekly shake their hand afterwards.  Again?  Will you give in to quivering, burning exhaustion? 

Or will you stand?  Stand up, grab a gear, and dare them to catch you?  Dare them to beat you?  Dare them to kill themselves to cross that damn line before you?

Which will it be?  There is only one way to find out.  2013.   

All Eyes On Jason Stewart

Every week, CONSOL Energy Inc features one employee, who for one reason or another, stands out in the crowd.  It is no surprise that the leader and founder of CER was selected for this week's article.  See below to learn of his heroic tale of greatness and rise to power.

Featured Employee Interview

Jason Stewart has been a CONSOL employee for 5 years.  He earned his Master’s Degree in Plant and Soil Science from WVU.

Jason’s current role with CONSOL is Production Coordinator with the Gas division.  He’s responsible for upholding CONSOL’s five core values while maximizing oil and gas production across a nine county region in northern West Virginia.  His duties include contractor supervision, interaction with regulatory agencies, and coordination with intercompany departments.  In this role, Jason does a lot of traveling and enjoys seeing a broad section of the State (of WV) and meeting different people from Kingwood to Parkersburg.  He enjoys seeing the people whom he supervises go home safely at the end of every day.

If you are in the Morgantown area, Jason recommends stopping by Oliverios.

Jason is responsible for starting CONSOL Energy Racing (CER).  He pitched the idea last year to Kent Wright and Cathy St. Clair.  They agreed to sponsor a team of six athletes, all current or former CONSOL employees or family members, to do triathlons, duathlons, 5K’s, 10K’s, marathons, half-marathons, and bike races.  By the end of 2012 his team had participated in almost 50 events across West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  They swam, ran, and biked their way across more than a thousand miles; they won series titles, overall individual races, and age group titles.  CONSOL athletes were seem by countless spectators and race participants and stood on podiums in the mid-Atlantic region basically every weekend.

CONSOL has agreed to sponsor their race team in 2013.   Below is a proof for the jersey that they will be wearing this season.  The crossed pick and shovel logo is meant to be a tribute to the miners who have built this company and this country.  It will be included in some form on everything they wear and it will be showcased on podiums up and down the East Coast this year!

A big thanks to Jason for educating us on CER and for sharing what this entails!  Good luck to you and your team in the 2013 season.