Today is awesome! Starting last night with some wild winds whipping around in the dark and to wake up this morning with a little white stuff on the ground that just kept accumulating! Above is a better picture of the mythical Frankenbike I made reference to in my last post.

Frequent BTB accomplice Jamie Trevvett had organized a group of folks to meet up to run the 4mile course of the Tipp Hill Shamrock Run that is happening March 10th. The Frankenbike was the first to arrive, and on its way it would rest in the snow next to the road as I helped one van and one truck get up over the crest of slippery hills and on with their journey.

What a great day to go for a 4 mile trudge! After many found warm coffee and couches much more appealing than slippery roads Jamie showed up we had a great run.

Not to mention the snow makes for excellent bicycle handling practice. ie; How fast can you take the downhill turn in the park by leaning and applying force down on the outside handle bar. Also good practice I found was attempting 10-15 foot area figure eights using copious pressure down on outside bar, quite a bit of leaning out of the turn, and a little pulling up on the inside bar, while doing little half pedal strokes to turn at the tightest radius possible. Yet another – one handed turns, again pushing on the outside bar and trying not touch the inside bar or letting the panicked foot come down.

That is all. I hope everyone else was able to get outside and play in the snow and that if you must traverse treacherous roads your survived your adventure unscathed.

enjoy.

Hey all. Brief update here, despite the glorious giant flakes of snow seen today in Central New York, spring is just around the corner. The CNY Triathlon Winter Training Facility has just announced they’ll only be open for another month and a half.

old unfinished portrait of the frankenbike… now it has fenders and all.. it’s awesome

This winter has been a good one thus far. The miles have been adding up on the ol’ Frankenbike single speed commuter traversing all over Syracuse this winter and I don’t know about yous guys, but I’m itching to race a little. A couple local-ish running and road cycling races are starting to pop up on the calendar for the near future. Not sure but I might just have to jump in and race Battenkill..  looking forward to a nice 4miler in the neighborhood over at the Tip Hill Run always good to see some familiar faces, it a fun race too where the whole community comes out to yell. Not sure what else quite yet.. the taste of indoor track air isn’t the greatest.. I may prefer the stinging sleet of running and riding out side it’s been a while since I’d felt that deep burn followed by days of coughing.

Speaking of fun indoor sporting…

BTB has expanded its realm into the world of soccer! Where Sarah and a great group of girls play under the title sponsor, Lamont Tavern out at the Jones Road sports complex.  Following next weeks winter break they will be competing in the Finals on Thursday, March 1st.

As the winter temperatures and spotty precipitation continues, keep doing what ever it is you do! There are lots of great things going on. We’ve been having a blast at Mello Velo, spinning in the café for what they call ‘Hump-Day Rump-Day’ riding bicycles indoors on Wednesdays; we spin, do a little work out, then frequently end up eating delicious foods near by.

Run, bike, lift, swim, snowshoe, ski, crossfit, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, what is your favorite winter time activity? Let us know in the comments below!

enjoy!

After a two week change of pace of running with the Sunday morning Angottis crew, I was in need of the training magic only available in the Tully valley. I waited till the temp broke 20 degrees and started out south into a cold wind out of the south. Warm and toasty in my tech clothes and cycling mittens I got into a sweet groove with funk coming from my headphones.

Today was a feel good run and I was not out to push the pace. The second half of the 9 mile run was fueled by a 30 minute rendition of “Picking up the pieces” by AWB. Just what the doctor ordered! By the way, those guys just can’t be from Scotland!! -B

2012 is underway! This year is going to be excellent, with both Bob and Randy Hadzor competing in World Championships this September!

• Bob Hadzor will be competing at Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• Randy Hadzor will be competing at Powerman World Championship in Zofingen, Switzerland.

We will be adding events to the schedule as it rolls closer, but there are a handful of big races that would be awesome to do, Woolsports Musselman, Tour of the Catskills, Giro of Otisco Lake, Tour of the Battenkill, the Dirty Dozen, and definitely Long Course Du Nationals in Maryland… Also you can look forward to more BTB Athletics events like gobblecross!

Good luck, and remember… some one’s always training harder.

2011 has certainly been a big year for BTB Athletics. On the roads and in the water we have been quite competitive and have had great fun swimming, biking and running.

Early season bike races and duathlons were highlighted by Randy winning the NYS Cat 4 Championship, Randy winning the Bloomfield Spring Classic with an off the front solo breakaway and Randy’s 2nd place effort at the American Zofingen a Duathlon in the Catskills consisting of hilly 5mile run, 84mile bike, and 15mile run (rumor has it the 3rd place finisher from a Philadelphia endurance sport team had to spend 3 days in a Philly hospital after the race from dehydration due to length and strenuosity of the race).

Mid season bike race and triathlons produced good results for Bob, Rand and Wes. With a 2nd place finish at the Caz triathlon elite division Randy beat stud Jim Eagen for the first time ever. Bob came in 2nd in his age group at the Delta Lake triathlon. And Wes finished in 46th place at the awesome Blackfly Challenge. Wes also upped his cyclocross performances now riding many of them on his sweet single speed Kona.

Toward the end of the season BTB success continued with Randy finishing 2nd overall and first in his age group at Powerman Muncie duathlon. In September Bob had a super race at Ironman Syracuse 70.3 finishing first in his age group. As a result of this win he was given an invite to the 70.3 World Championship in Henderson, Nevada, September 9th, 2012.

As a result of his duathlon point totals, Randy has qualified for the Powerman World Championships in Zofingen, Switzerland, September 2nd 2012. The distances for Powerman Zofingen are 10k run, 150k bike and 30k run.

It is amazing to think that 2 of us will be competing in World Championship events the same week in September 2012!

Before I sign off, I want to send a big shoutout and thank you to BTB sponsors , friends and family;
Bill and Kim Gilberti
Eric Lankford and Wool Sports
Paul Lewis and Jane Shannon
Mello Velo Bike Shop
Dan Ganley
M and J Coaching
Curtin and Hadzor
Variety Studios

2012 is going to be awesome. All of us will be taking our training to the next level. Training smart and hard! Hope to see you on the road, in the gym or at the lake in 2012

Dec. 26, the Tully valley. A mild CNY winter day, cloudy, 29 degrees and flurries. A perfect day to run out the lazy, stuffed feeling from a Christmas day of too much food and goodies.
By the end of the first mile with the help of Al Green on Pandora, I could actually feel the bounce come back to my step and the power flow into my stride from the Tully valley spirits.

Beautiful views as usual. This time a snow line was distinct on the upper section of the hills that surround the Valley.
At the 4 1/2 mile mark I took a couple photos and then switched my listening to a collection of Van Halen, AC/DC, Journey and Guns and Roses. A expected, my pace quickened and I dropped the hammer, barreling to my truck at the 9 mile mark.
A solid run deposit made at the fitness bank! -B

A beautiful December day, calm, clear and 25 degrees.

Sunday’s run was pushed back to mid afternoon due to Christmas gift building and Sunday paper reading. A loop out Berry Rd. To Berwyn to Pompey Hill was hilly. It seems the first 7 miles were all up hill and the last 3.5 downhill.
Had good mojo going and tried to push on many of the inclines.
Saturday’s Masters swim was tough as usual . It was a bit worrisome when after 2800 yds. of sprints, pulls, kicks, etc. the coach announced that the workout was “recovery” and next week we will really work hard. Yikes! -B