Bruce Rychlik takes 7th at at Supercross Cup

In one of his best performances of the season, Bruce Rychlik finished 7th at Supercross Cup in Stony Point, NY, on November 4, 2015. This resulted in the second best points result on CrossResults.com The week prior to this race he and his coach, Karen Mackin, discussed the merits of drafting and how you can successfully use it during a cross race. He found this race offered him a great opportunity to use what they had discussed in picking off the riders in front of him and moving up in place throughout the race.   Bruce's determination to improve as a rider and his ability to apply new skills to his racing really payed of this cross season.  Congratulations Bruce!

Steve Pandelidis runs a great race in Atlantic City

On October 18th, 2015, Steve Pandelidis cranked out a fabulous run at the AmeriHealth NJ Atlantic City Half Marathon.   He felt this years race was an improvement over last years with better cadence and pacing which allowed for a very solid finish.  He was very pleased with pacing 15th/85 in his category.   Congratulations Steve!  NOW, on to the marathon!

Greg Judin Rocks the Momentum Dual X Duathlon

On October 17th 2015, Greg Judin shot out of the starting line and raced to the single track of the first leg (5k Run) in the Dual X Duathlon at the Van Gaalen Cheese Farm in Skeerpoort, North West, South Africa.   He started a little fast, out if necessity, to avoid getting trapped in the difficult to pass single track which was a very short distance from the starting line.  His race proceeded smoothly through the 30k MtBike and the 2.5k final run of the race.  He finished in 2:02 min and finished 6th in his category.  Congratulations Greg!

Ken Nickerson completes Bar Harbour, ME to Harvard, MA Solo Excursion

Congratulations goes out to Ken Nickerson who completed his very own cycling tour  of 408miles from Bar Harbour, ME to his home in Harvard, MA from September 20th to September 24th, 2015.   Over the course of these 5 days, Ken rode unsupported (carried all his gear) over 24,000 ft of elevation.  He racked up a total of 1073 TSS on scenic roads he chose from a combination of Adventure Cycling Association routes and Strava's Global Heat Map (a great way to discover popular cycling roads!).   The entire summer Ken worked to build his endurance, and it really payed off.  His post workout comments were riddled with words akin to his comments on day 4, "Legs felt great today!" Check out some of the beautiful scenery he encountered along the way in the photo collage.

Greg Judin completes the grueling Haute Route

On August 23rd, 2015, Greg Judin set out to accomplish quite a feat to finish the Haute Route, Alps.   This is no ordinary amateur stage race, it is 7 consecutive days with stages that cover a total of 855km (531mi), with over 22150m (72,670ft) of climbing.   The Haute Route Alps traversed the French Alps starting from Nice on the Mediterranean coast, finishing in Geneva’s Jardin Anglais on the shore of the lake. Some of the sport’s most iconic and demanding ascents are included in the route.  After the event, in a post-race Skype-chat with his coach (Karen Mackin), a very happy Greg posted, "I actually still can't believe I climbed over 21,000 vertical metres on a bike last week - the numbers are off the chart!!"  He spent many hours in the saddle working diligently to boost up his Chronic Training Load, in order to prepare for the event and all of his hard work really paid off!   Congratulations Greg!

Steve Pandelidis wins Gold in Age Group

On Sunday August 9th 2015 Steve Pandelidis cranked out an amazing Race at the President Lakes Triathlon. Not only did he place 1st in the 50-54 Age group in the Olympic distance event, he also managed to come in 13th overall!  Being 9th overall out of the water, he knew he would have to work very hard to stay that close to the leaders.   He had a rock solid bike and felt pretty good on for the 10k.   He did, however, remark on how tough the run was when he commented that almost 4 miles of it were on a sandy trail (parts of it pretty loose), making it extra challenging. Steve finished the 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run in 2 hrs and 31 min.  Congratulations Steve on a fantastic race!

Timothy Whitney takes Silver!

Congratulations to Timothy Whitney who on August 2nd 2015 placed 2nd in the 60-65 Age group at the Marshfield Sprint Triathlon!  Way to go Tim!

Nicole Sheahan conquers the Ironman!

On July 27th, 2015 Nicole Sheahan crossed the finish line at Ironman Lake Placid, officially finishing the entire Ironman distance!   This year was a re-take from last year because, due to thunderstorms she was not allowed to finish the second loop of the swim course, she felt like she didn't quite get the honors of being called an "Ironman" even after finishing the entire bike and run course.

The 2015 training season leading up to this race was exceptionally challenging for Nicole.  She had to overcome a few extra health issues that certainly wreaked havoc on the original training program that her coach, Karen Mackin had developed.   But together they managed to come up with a few altered plans that ultimately lead to a great race.

Nicole made a few changes for this year.  The first was made through focused work throughout the season on improving her running cadence.   In addition, on race day she employed a new run/walk strategy focusing on a brisker walking pace.  Another change this year was on HOW she generated the Watts on the bike.   Again, this work was the culmination of hours and hours of practice riding steady (with a lower variability index) throughout her training.  Nicole and coach Karen believe these efforts contributed largely to her ability to complete the marathon 50min FASTER than last year!

Her effort on race day showed amazing spirit and determination and conquering the full distance put a big smile on her face (see photo)!  Congratulations Nicole!

Greg Judin takes 4th at XTERRA Duathlon at the Knysna Oyster Festival Races

Each year Greg Judin packs up his family and combines an epic week of racing with a wonderful family vacation in Knysna, South Africa at the Knysna Oyster Festival.   With over 100 events to choose from,  Greg chose to participate in 5 of the most hotly contested events over the course of the week. Starting with Saturday (7/4), he raced the 80km mountain bike race and immediately the next day he did the 110km Road Cycling Race.  On Tuesday (7/6) he did the 15km Trail running Race. Thursday was the XTERRA off-road duathlon (3k trail run, 23k MTB, 7k trail run and he finished off the week doing a Half Marathon Running Road race on Saturday 7/11.   Greg had some great results and with comparing this years to last years events, he noticed an improvement in all of the events.   His most notable result for the week was his 4th place placing in his category for the Duathlon.   Overall he (and his PCG coach, Karen Mackin) were very pleased with the results for the entire week! Congratulations Greg!

Tri turned Du - Steve Pandelidis still cranks it!

Two days of continuous rain made the Schukyll, the planned swim venue for the Philadelphia Tri-Rock Olympic Distance Race, unsafe for swimming.  Although this was a slight disappointment for Steve Pandeledis (whose forte is the swim leg of these races), it did not deter him from putting it all out there and finishing strong at the NOW Duathon race on June 28th, 2015.  Steve finished 9th place in a strong field of 66 in his age group.  Congratulations Steve!

Lynette and Siong Hing secure top podium positions!

The Tri-Factor 35k Road Race in Singapore saw some great action when both husband and wife, Lynette and Siong Hing placed 1st and 3rd, respectively on Sunday, June 28th, 2015.   Lynette's race was a classic attack, break and win, while Siong's race was a little different.  His race involved an early 10 rider break, then more attacks, trying to split that group even further, and the final attack by Siong, only to be overtaken just before the finish line by two riders.  Making it a very close race with Siong finishing in 3rd.  Congratulations to both Lynette and Siong!

Greg Judin Does DualX Duathlon

On June 20th 2015, Greg Judin came in 18th in his category at the 2015 Momentum Health OatWell DualX DualX Duathlon  The race consisted of a 5k Trail run, 30k Mountain Bike and finished up with a 2.5k Trail run.   Greg commented how the course had an "awesome bike leg" and that he "loved the singletrack!".   It was a great, fun event, well done by Greg!   Way to go!

Whitney Runs Mt Washington!

On June 20th, 2015, Tim Whitney finished the Mt Washington Road Race.   This 7.6 mile race has one hill,  in fact, it is all hill (up), or rather, up mountain.   Mt. Washington, NH is the highest peak in the Northeast and the route up it averages 13% Grade!.   So finishing this monstrous event is quite and accomplishment.   Congratulations Tim!

Lynette and Siong Hing excel at Kuantan Century

On June 7th, 2015, Siong and Lynette Hing lined up (along with over 1800 other cyclists) for the 2015 Kuantan Century, Malaysia. The women and men all lined up together.  This years course started with intense rolling hills, which immediately split the peloton.  Siong managed to stay near the front and therefore was right where the action was.  The pace was lightening fast with so many big teams making attacks, one right after another.  After many failed breakaway attempts, one group of 4 riders finally got away.  Then in the last 10-15km of the race, Siong managed to get in a successful break of 7 riders with a small gap of 30-40s from the chasing peloton.   In the last 2km, the cat and mouse began with the final climb over a huge bridge into the finish.   He explained, "Our group was scattered and we were left fighting for our lives in the last 1km. Time gap was down to 20s. I was running on fumes but a minuscule dying burst was enough to push me into 2nd in my group of 5 riders, while the last 2 riders got swarmed by the Peloton."   This effort was enough to put him in 6th place overall and 1st in his Age Group to win the Yellow Jersey - see photo.  Results are still unofficially (one week after race! (gave up waiting before posting this).   He was thrilled with the race and exclaimed, it was "The best race of my life".   His wife Lynette, had a great race as well.   Even with the lead group breaking off with the first 3 women ahead, she fought valiantly and managed to claim 5th!  Congratulations to Siong and Lynette!

Nicole Sheahan finishes White Mountain Half Iron Triathlon

Nicole Sheahan braved the freezing cold Echo Lake ice water as well as over 5200 ft of climbing on June 6th, 2015 during the Half Iron Distance White Mountain Triathlon.   After reviewing her race files/comments, her PCG Coach Karen Mackin was thrilled with the results for two very important reasons.   The first involved comfort in descending.   One of the areas that Nicole has been working on is to feel more comfortable and safe with faster descending and Nicole commented "I managed the descents pretty well!"  The second was that finishing the race with a very reasonable Variability Index given extreme hilliness of the course.  She managed to pace herself well enough to have good finishing run too!  Congratulations Nicole!

Bruce Tackles the Kingdom Trails Challenge

In choosing an "A" event for this year, Bruce Rychlik considered that the most important thing for him to accomplish this year was to learn how to handle off-road riding.   He felt that improving the skills and techniques required for off-road, whether that be cyclo-cross or mt bike could make the biggest difference in his racing.   So instead of his annual European Cycling (road) Grand Tour "A" event, he set out to create his very own Epic "Mt Bike Camp Challenge" in Burke, VT.  His PCG Coach, Karen Mackin was invited along and was able to join him for 2.5 of the 6 days of the Camp.  He arranged for each morning to kick off with Yoga followed by MTB Skills instruction.   After a catered lunch,  his guide, Ian Dowling (of Village Sport Shop) took him on long afternoon fitness rides mostly on trails but sometimes on the infamous dirt roads of Vermont.  Bruce concluded each day of the Camp with massage and then dinner at one of the local favorite restaurants.  By the end of the trip Bruce had racked up over 190 miles and just about 25,000 ft of climbing on sweet single track, skinny winding bridges (see photo) and even playing at the amazing Pump Track.   His accomplishments were epic as he went from "Not even attempting" (i.e. getting off the bike and walking) to hitting Personal Records on over a dozen Strava Segments he had frequented prior to the this weeks MTB Camp Challenge.   Congratulations Bruce!