No racing this weekend for me. Only endurance/tempo training rides to the tune of 245km. Next weekend is Turkey Hill (if Todd takes my offer) and Colts Neck. I will try to remember to keep those races in mind this week during training but I've been feeling quite frisky lately and have had a mind to attack.
The only cure for itchy feet is to give them a scratch . . . or Tough Actin' Tinactin(TM).
Sunday, April 29, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Open Letter to Tooly McToolbag
First things first: go read one of the best blog posts ever.
Now, back to the subject at hand. An open letter to Tooly McToolbag:
A few weeks ago, my beautiful and kind cousin Sara Trey was walking along the peaceful Schuykill River near her dorm on Penn's campus. She was strolling along a multi-use path, taking in the sights and sounds of Spring in Philadelphia. By all accounts, she is kind, courteous and generally happy-go-lucky. She wasn't walking in the middle of the path, but very courteously to the right side.
At some point in her stroll, some douchebag with an attitude flies past her in full kit (and probably on a full carbon Madone SSSSSSL 6.66 with the Zipp 909 combo) and tears a gash in her arm the size of the Mariana Trench. As an aspiring doctor, she maintained her composure as she gushed blood but did not manage to flag down the offending loser.
So, Mr. McToolbag, what have you to say for yourself? You've given us cyclists, and specifically roadies, a bad name. As if we roadies needed more hate poured upon us. In all of your effort to fit in and be part of the now-hip cycling culture, you've called attention to yourself as an outsider, a pariah, an untouchable, a vagrant. Unfortunately, what you see of the TdF on TV does not actually happen in real life. We don't cruise around in Postal team kit, we don't toss our helmets aside on the final ascent, we don't eject our bottles once they're empty and we sure-as-shit don't hammer on multi-use paths (or roll on Shabbos)!
Get a clue, Tooly, and slow down around the pedestrians.
Now, back to the subject at hand. An open letter to Tooly McToolbag:
A few weeks ago, my beautiful and kind cousin Sara Trey was walking along the peaceful Schuykill River near her dorm on Penn's campus. She was strolling along a multi-use path, taking in the sights and sounds of Spring in Philadelphia. By all accounts, she is kind, courteous and generally happy-go-lucky. She wasn't walking in the middle of the path, but very courteously to the right side.
At some point in her stroll, some douchebag with an attitude flies past her in full kit (and probably on a full carbon Madone SSSSSSL 6.66 with the Zipp 909 combo) and tears a gash in her arm the size of the Mariana Trench. As an aspiring doctor, she maintained her composure as she gushed blood but did not manage to flag down the offending loser.
So, Mr. McToolbag, what have you to say for yourself? You've given us cyclists, and specifically roadies, a bad name. As if we roadies needed more hate poured upon us. In all of your effort to fit in and be part of the now-hip cycling culture, you've called attention to yourself as an outsider, a pariah, an untouchable, a vagrant. Unfortunately, what you see of the TdF on TV does not actually happen in real life. We don't cruise around in Postal team kit, we don't toss our helmets aside on the final ascent, we don't eject our bottles once they're empty and we sure-as-shit don't hammer on multi-use paths (or roll on Shabbos)!
Get a clue, Tooly, and slow down around the pedestrians.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Side-Note
By the way, if you want to know how a bike race really should unfold or feel like, do a P/1/2/3 race. It's full gas nearly all the time! None of this silly nancy sit up once you catch the solo break. It's awesome . . . and FAST!
Weekend Race Wrap-Up
--Saturday--
The Cherry Blossom Cat 3 race (part of the NJ Cat 3 Cup schedule) sure put the 'turd' in Saturday. Craig and I showed up at the course, pro-style, at about noon. It was nice to sleep in but threw a bit of a wrench into the when/what to eat equation. We had PBJ sandwiches about 45 minutes before the start. Mistake #1.
We warmed up a bit on the roads around Branch Brook Park and took in the sights and sounds of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We headed back to the course and decided to pre-ride one lap. When we came around to the start-finish area, the lap board said '18' and the Juniors were already rolling out behind the start-finish. We had missed the start. Mistake #2.
We discreetly joined in after missing out on the first lap and had a rather boring and uneventful race. I was away with a young but strong 3D rider for a while with the biggest gap of the day, according to Craig. We got brought back because that's what happens in stupid races. With 2 laps to go, we started to set up for the finish. There's only one turn on the course so there wasn't much to separate out the rif-raff. Mistake #3 (admittedly, not my fault).
The 'sprint' wound up from about 500m out after some thorough douchebaggery committed by the Major Taylor idiots. A wall of six or seven riders formed the front as they dragged to the line. There was nowhere to go. No holes, no gaps, just stupidity. I sat up with 100m left and counted myself lucky not to have crashed.
--Sunday--
Jim set the tone for the day by riding off the front of the field in his Cat 5 race and eventually taking 2nd to some stoopid-strong Cat 2 from Guyana . . . huh?! Great job Jim.
I was pretty motivated from the frustration I had from SaTURDay, so heading into the Rahway River Park Criterium, I was pretty excited. I was looking forward to working for Mark in the 3/4 race and also to testing my mettle in the P/1/2/3. Our plan for the 3/4 was to put at least one guy in every break. I happened to bridge to what ultimately was the winning break when I saw Pluto coming back from it.
With a little over 1 lap to go, a DKNY guy made a sneaky move and rolled through the front of the break with no one responding. Everyone else in the break acted dumb and flatly refused to bring him back. Silly them, as they must not have known I could/would handily crush them in the sprint. And I did for a rather frustrating 2nd.
I had about an hour to an hour and a half between races so I snagged Dave's trainer (thanks Dave!) to keep the legs loose. It was a lot of fun to have a large crew to jaw with on the sidewalk.
Craig decided to man up and race the P/1/2/3 with me and Andy so I had some team support. The pace was pretty high from the start but I was able to be active a bit early on. When I thought the pace was hard enough but not too hard, I put in a strong attack and was quickly joined by two diesel engines and, later, a third bridged to us. After a few laps, I was suffering just sitting on the back, not taking pulls and eventually came unhitched. Too bad, it was the winning break.
Back in the field, I had good help from Craig and Andy on the final lap. Andy, a.k.a. The Derny Bike, did a great job pulling me up into position on the left. Unfortunately, another sneaky move got made and the response was on the right. I lost position quickly but was able to grab a wheel and take 3rd in the field sprint for 6th overall. It was encouraging to be sprinting around guys like they were standing still. The only two guys I didn't catch were sneaky guy and Gui Nelessen, former pro. I needed just 10 more meters to catch Gui.
Overall, I'm satisfied with the weekend. It was a rather humbling experience (but not THAT humbling) to suffer so much in the break. I was definitely out-matched, out-gunned, out-powered, out-everythinged. I'm happy I was able to hang in there (almost) with at least two former pros.
The Cherry Blossom Cat 3 race (part of the NJ Cat 3 Cup schedule) sure put the 'turd' in Saturday. Craig and I showed up at the course, pro-style, at about noon. It was nice to sleep in but threw a bit of a wrench into the when/what to eat equation. We had PBJ sandwiches about 45 minutes before the start. Mistake #1.
We warmed up a bit on the roads around Branch Brook Park and took in the sights and sounds of the Cherry Blossom Festival. We headed back to the course and decided to pre-ride one lap. When we came around to the start-finish area, the lap board said '18' and the Juniors were already rolling out behind the start-finish. We had missed the start. Mistake #2.
We discreetly joined in after missing out on the first lap and had a rather boring and uneventful race. I was away with a young but strong 3D rider for a while with the biggest gap of the day, according to Craig. We got brought back because that's what happens in stupid races. With 2 laps to go, we started to set up for the finish. There's only one turn on the course so there wasn't much to separate out the rif-raff. Mistake #3 (admittedly, not my fault).
The 'sprint' wound up from about 500m out after some thorough douchebaggery committed by the Major Taylor idiots. A wall of six or seven riders formed the front as they dragged to the line. There was nowhere to go. No holes, no gaps, just stupidity. I sat up with 100m left and counted myself lucky not to have crashed.
--Sunday--
Jim set the tone for the day by riding off the front of the field in his Cat 5 race and eventually taking 2nd to some stoopid-strong Cat 2 from Guyana . . . huh?! Great job Jim.
I was pretty motivated from the frustration I had from SaTURDay, so heading into the Rahway River Park Criterium, I was pretty excited. I was looking forward to working for Mark in the 3/4 race and also to testing my mettle in the P/1/2/3. Our plan for the 3/4 was to put at least one guy in every break. I happened to bridge to what ultimately was the winning break when I saw Pluto coming back from it.
With a little over 1 lap to go, a DKNY guy made a sneaky move and rolled through the front of the break with no one responding. Everyone else in the break acted dumb and flatly refused to bring him back. Silly them, as they must not have known I could/would handily crush them in the sprint. And I did for a rather frustrating 2nd.
I had about an hour to an hour and a half between races so I snagged Dave's trainer (thanks Dave!) to keep the legs loose. It was a lot of fun to have a large crew to jaw with on the sidewalk.
Craig decided to man up and race the P/1/2/3 with me and Andy so I had some team support. The pace was pretty high from the start but I was able to be active a bit early on. When I thought the pace was hard enough but not too hard, I put in a strong attack and was quickly joined by two diesel engines and, later, a third bridged to us. After a few laps, I was suffering just sitting on the back, not taking pulls and eventually came unhitched. Too bad, it was the winning break.
Back in the field, I had good help from Craig and Andy on the final lap. Andy, a.k.a. The Derny Bike, did a great job pulling me up into position on the left. Unfortunately, another sneaky move got made and the response was on the right. I lost position quickly but was able to grab a wheel and take 3rd in the field sprint for 6th overall. It was encouraging to be sprinting around guys like they were standing still. The only two guys I didn't catch were sneaky guy and Gui Nelessen, former pro. I needed just 10 more meters to catch Gui.
Overall, I'm satisfied with the weekend. It was a rather humbling experience (but not THAT humbling) to suffer so much in the break. I was definitely out-matched, out-gunned, out-powered, out-everythinged. I'm happy I was able to hang in there (almost) with at least two former pros.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Beautiful Insanity
This is Beauty:
This is Insanity:
photo courtesy of Cyclingnews.
I love the Stelvio. The Mortirolo is OK. The Zoncolan is just sick.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
How to Go Fast
For Tuesday night sprint practice analysis, see previous Tuesday night sprint practice post.
--
If you want to go fast, you need to have some good fuel. Just ask any of the NHRA guys. My fuel of choice is a high-octane mixture of Gjetost, Kavli Crispbread and Rugelach.
--
If you want to go fast, you need to have some good fuel. Just ask any of the NHRA guys. My fuel of choice is a high-octane mixture of Gjetost, Kavli Crispbread and Rugelach.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Injury Update
I think my knee is at about 80% this morning.
I think Mark's trainer is at about 0%. I tried to spin lightly on it yesterday (my own trainer is at 0%) and it started to make some horrendous noises. But the knee felt OK.
I think Mark's trainer is at about 0%. I tried to spin lightly on it yesterday (my own trainer is at 0%) and it started to make some horrendous noises. But the knee felt OK.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Friday, April 13, 2007
A Leg Up On The Competition
Last night's karaoke was on the better side of average. Yoyoma (my mom) and Timmy (my uncle) accompanied me to the isochronal event. They had high expectations for the night as I had been prepping them for over a month, giving accounts of past sojourns to THE Harvest Moon. The performances of "our crew" did not disappoint. Others, however, should have been told to turn down the suck knob. Way down. Losers.
Anyways, back to the main topic -- me (surprised?). Big Andrew from the HP did some rap song at some point that got a bunch of folks dancing, you know, rap-style. There was some knee-bending, body-twisting, and general rub-up-against-members-of-the-opposite-sex fun. One thing you may not have noticed, had you been there, was that my own knee-bending, body-twisting and general rub-up-against-members-of-the-opposite-sex fun was actually not dancing. It was, in fact, me admiring how incredibly amazing my quads looked in my Seven jeans.
When I eventually stopped flexing, bending, twisting and rubbing, you might have thought it was because my legs were tired and sore. And you would be excused for thinking that, since most people would have sore and tired legs. Of course the true reason I stopped is that those damn Sevens are expensive and I was worried the extraordinary strength and power of my quads would rip the jeans right through at the seams. Not to mention the mass hysteria and swooning that would inevitably occur at the mere sight of my beautiful legs . . .
--
Since it looks like everyone is a sissy and won't be riding on Sunday, I think I'll cozy up to my Cycling.tv, watch the Paris-Roubaix coverage and then head out into the deluge once it finishes to give my wonderful legs a chance to go outside and play.
Anyways, back to the main topic -- me (surprised?). Big Andrew from the HP did some rap song at some point that got a bunch of folks dancing, you know, rap-style. There was some knee-bending, body-twisting, and general rub-up-against-members-of-the-opposite-sex fun. One thing you may not have noticed, had you been there, was that my own knee-bending, body-twisting and general rub-up-against-members-of-the-opposite-sex fun was actually not dancing. It was, in fact, me admiring how incredibly amazing my quads looked in my Seven jeans.
When I eventually stopped flexing, bending, twisting and rubbing, you might have thought it was because my legs were tired and sore. And you would be excused for thinking that, since most people would have sore and tired legs. Of course the true reason I stopped is that those damn Sevens are expensive and I was worried the extraordinary strength and power of my quads would rip the jeans right through at the seams. Not to mention the mass hysteria and swooning that would inevitably occur at the mere sight of my beautiful legs . . .
--
Since it looks like everyone is a sissy and won't be riding on Sunday, I think I'll cozy up to my Cycling.tv, watch the Paris-Roubaix coverage and then head out into the deluge once it finishes to give my wonderful legs a chance to go outside and play.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Sprints
Another Tuesday night. Another sprint practice. Another show of domination by yours truly.
The numbers were nothing spectacular so I won't bore you with them here.
With the notable exception of Oscar Freire, I cannot think of any sprinters who aren't cocky and flamboyant. I fit the mold quite nicely. Don't hate me because I'm flashy and sure of myself. Hate me because I'm better than you.
The numbers were nothing spectacular so I won't bore you with them here.
With the notable exception of Oscar Freire, I cannot think of any sprinters who aren't cocky and flamboyant. I fit the mold quite nicely. Don't hate me because I'm flashy and sure of myself. Hate me because I'm better than you.
Sunday, April 8, 2007
The Epic Easter Ride
The plan for today was to do 4 hours of endurance/tempo with Todd. As soon as we rolled out from the shop, the wind smacked us and I had a feeling we might not make it the full 4 hours. Apparently the Northeast US and Belgium decided to trade weather today. For De Ronde, blue skies and sunny with temperatures at or above 20°C. For New Jersey, partly cloudy, gusty wind and flurries with temperatures at or below 5°C.
Not thirty minutes into the ride, Harold had a flat. It was a sign of things to come. I had just started to warm up a bit from riding tempo next to Todd and, while the change was made quickly, it was enough time to cool right down. Not a mile down the road, we passed Omar and Ralf on the side of the road, also changing a flat. We decided not to stop since we all wanted to stay warm.
Andy yelled at me for pulling in the gutter and not giving anyone the benefit of the draft. Sorry guys, my bad. We were able to make it the rest of the way to the First Bridge rest stop uneventfully. Andy and Harold smartly turned home after the beating they had taken from the cold and wind.
We rolled out of the First Bridge parking lot and made about five minutes worth of progress when Todd notified us he had to stop to fix some kind of saddle/shoe/cleat/pedal combo problem. We waited another five or so minutes, getting cold. It was at this time that the already-shortened ride was in danger of becoming shorter. We pressed on to Coppermine at my behest. Coppermine was probably the highlight of the ride. Being uphill and protected by trees, it gave us a brief respite from the wind. At the top, Mark and Pluto decided to descend and head straight home along Canal while Todd, Dave K. and myself decided to take Dog Jump home. Once across the canal and into Rocky Hill, the flurries began and intensified.
As we came through the housing developments, we were about to make the left turn onto the road that follows the canal back to First Bridge when an incident occurred that pushed the ride from epic into legendary territory. Amidst the fairly heavy flurries, Dave K. lost focus for a moment when he looked behind to check for a car and realized he had overlapped his front wheel with Todd's rear wheel. I watched from a distance as Dave locked up his rear wheel, nearly righted himself, unclipped his left foot and tripodded and ultimately went down in one of the most graceful crashes I've seen. The only damage sustained was a crooked stem, which was easily remedied. It was at this point I realized that we probably should not have been riding at all today. Fate had not been on our side.
On the way home, we were still riding tempo and finally got back to the park, about three hours after leaving the shop but with only about two hours of actual riding time. It was then that I decided the ride warranted documentation.
Despite the mishaps, the ride was a solid two hour block of training and well worth it. Let's hope the weather improves for next weekend so I can put all the time and distance in I've been wanting to do.
Not thirty minutes into the ride, Harold had a flat. It was a sign of things to come. I had just started to warm up a bit from riding tempo next to Todd and, while the change was made quickly, it was enough time to cool right down. Not a mile down the road, we passed Omar and Ralf on the side of the road, also changing a flat. We decided not to stop since we all wanted to stay warm.
Andy yelled at me for pulling in the gutter and not giving anyone the benefit of the draft. Sorry guys, my bad. We were able to make it the rest of the way to the First Bridge rest stop uneventfully. Andy and Harold smartly turned home after the beating they had taken from the cold and wind.
We rolled out of the First Bridge parking lot and made about five minutes worth of progress when Todd notified us he had to stop to fix some kind of saddle/shoe/cleat/pedal combo problem. We waited another five or so minutes, getting cold. It was at this time that the already-shortened ride was in danger of becoming shorter. We pressed on to Coppermine at my behest. Coppermine was probably the highlight of the ride. Being uphill and protected by trees, it gave us a brief respite from the wind. At the top, Mark and Pluto decided to descend and head straight home along Canal while Todd, Dave K. and myself decided to take Dog Jump home. Once across the canal and into Rocky Hill, the flurries began and intensified.
As we came through the housing developments, we were about to make the left turn onto the road that follows the canal back to First Bridge when an incident occurred that pushed the ride from epic into legendary territory. Amidst the fairly heavy flurries, Dave K. lost focus for a moment when he looked behind to check for a car and realized he had overlapped his front wheel with Todd's rear wheel. I watched from a distance as Dave locked up his rear wheel, nearly righted himself, unclipped his left foot and tripodded and ultimately went down in one of the most graceful crashes I've seen. The only damage sustained was a crooked stem, which was easily remedied. It was at this point I realized that we probably should not have been riding at all today. Fate had not been on our side.
On the way home, we were still riding tempo and finally got back to the park, about three hours after leaving the shop but with only about two hours of actual riding time. It was then that I decided the ride warranted documentation.
Despite the mishaps, the ride was a solid two hour block of training and well worth it. Let's hope the weather improves for next weekend so I can put all the time and distance in I've been wanting to do.
Paying for Performance
My opinion on yesterday's Sandy Hook TT has already been stated by Don. Early in the day, when I was frozen to the bone despite wearing at least four layers of clothing, I had come to the decision that I wouldn't race. However, when I was standing out near the turn-around marshalling, I saw SO many riders going SO slow that I just had to go out and kill it.
I rode a ~7 mile TT in 17:26, more than a minute faster than I rode it last year. Of course conditions were different than last year, but I believe my time this year would have put me in the top 10 of the 4/5 category whereas last year I was probably in the bottom third of the 4/5 category. The machine known as Troy Kimball of Westwood Velo, who started one minute behind me, finished only twenty seconds ahead of me. That was satisfying. He was the 2006 NJ Pro/1/2 Road Race champion.
It's amazing what a 20 minute warmup and a 20 minute hard effort will take out of you. I was exhausted all day, dehydrated, sore and stiff. Some of that is due, however, to standing around in the cold and wind as part of the race promotion responsibilities. All in all, it was quite a good and productive day.
--
I'm watching De Ronde on Cycling.tv right now. I bought a Premium subscription last year in mid-April. At the exchange rate back then, it came out to just about $40, for a full year of access. That may sound like a lot to pay for a single channel of programming that isn't even populated with new content 24/7. It's not. The cable TV portion of my cable bill is about $50 per month. I'm pretty sure, in hours-per-dollar, I've gotten a much better deal from Cycling.tv. I highly recommend buying the subscription, I know I'll be renewing mine in about a week and a half. Plus, you get to show your support for race programming in the USA. I suppose if enough people from the USA sign up, we'll have more regular TV coverage of things like the US Open Championships on NBC yesterday (what an epic race--even my mom was impressed).
I'm looking forward to a solid four-hour tempo ride today. Should be a good way to drop one or two of those extra pounds that crept up on me the past three weeks.
I rode a ~7 mile TT in 17:26, more than a minute faster than I rode it last year. Of course conditions were different than last year, but I believe my time this year would have put me in the top 10 of the 4/5 category whereas last year I was probably in the bottom third of the 4/5 category. The machine known as Troy Kimball of Westwood Velo, who started one minute behind me, finished only twenty seconds ahead of me. That was satisfying. He was the 2006 NJ Pro/1/2 Road Race champion.
It's amazing what a 20 minute warmup and a 20 minute hard effort will take out of you. I was exhausted all day, dehydrated, sore and stiff. Some of that is due, however, to standing around in the cold and wind as part of the race promotion responsibilities. All in all, it was quite a good and productive day.
--
I'm watching De Ronde on Cycling.tv right now. I bought a Premium subscription last year in mid-April. At the exchange rate back then, it came out to just about $40, for a full year of access. That may sound like a lot to pay for a single channel of programming that isn't even populated with new content 24/7. It's not. The cable TV portion of my cable bill is about $50 per month. I'm pretty sure, in hours-per-dollar, I've gotten a much better deal from Cycling.tv. I highly recommend buying the subscription, I know I'll be renewing mine in about a week and a half. Plus, you get to show your support for race programming in the USA. I suppose if enough people from the USA sign up, we'll have more regular TV coverage of things like the US Open Championships on NBC yesterday (what an epic race--even my mom was impressed).
I'm looking forward to a solid four-hour tempo ride today. Should be a good way to drop one or two of those extra pounds that crept up on me the past three weeks.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
The Life of a Hardman
Yesterday I was looking forward to getting out of work and getting on the bike. I had to skip riding on Tuesday because of a mini-disaster that happened at work requiring I be there from 7am to 9pm (what am I, a grad student now?).
The weather yesterday can best be described as "Belgian" with drizzly rain, strong wind and temperatures hovering around 5°C. Both Mark and Craig nancy-ed out on me . . . some 'crossers they are! So I went out for a First Bridge ride at 5:30 with the clip-on aerobars to get used to them for the TT this weekend.
How miserable! I wore my Winter shoes with wool socks but didn't wear shoe covers, neoprene toe covers or even little plastic baggies for liners. Big mistake! By the time I got to First Bridge, my feet felt (actually, there wasn't really feeling but you get the point) like bricks of ice.
I did try to warm up for the first twenty to thirty minutes but I think it was useless. I did a 15min effort once I got past the traffic circle in Bound Brook. Since I couldn't really feel my knees, I didn't realize that they were most likely protesting my workout. It was probably not a good idea to do a hard interval like that in the cold weather.
Anyways, after the ride, I made dinner while I showered (a nifty trick!), ate and went back into work in the span of about one hour. I was hoping for some chocolate fondue but it looks like that would have to wait until some other time.
I promise a more coherent and worthy post in the next couple days. I need to start writing down the ideas that come to me at work so I don't end up with crap for content like this post.
The weather yesterday can best be described as "Belgian" with drizzly rain, strong wind and temperatures hovering around 5°C. Both Mark and Craig nancy-ed out on me . . . some 'crossers they are! So I went out for a First Bridge ride at 5:30 with the clip-on aerobars to get used to them for the TT this weekend.
How miserable! I wore my Winter shoes with wool socks but didn't wear shoe covers, neoprene toe covers or even little plastic baggies for liners. Big mistake! By the time I got to First Bridge, my feet felt (actually, there wasn't really feeling but you get the point) like bricks of ice.
I did try to warm up for the first twenty to thirty minutes but I think it was useless. I did a 15min effort once I got past the traffic circle in Bound Brook. Since I couldn't really feel my knees, I didn't realize that they were most likely protesting my workout. It was probably not a good idea to do a hard interval like that in the cold weather.
Anyways, after the ride, I made dinner while I showered (a nifty trick!), ate and went back into work in the span of about one hour. I was hoping for some chocolate fondue but it looks like that would have to wait until some other time.
I promise a more coherent and worthy post in the next couple days. I need to start writing down the ideas that come to me at work so I don't end up with crap for content like this post.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
Together Everyone Achieves More
Today, Hammonton, NJ played host to the 2007 edition of the Pinecone Circuit Road Race. The Cat 3/4 race was a 48-mile affair full of my absolutely favorite terrain: flat, flat, flat. Mark, Will C., Will P. and I met at the Dunkin Donuts in the HP at the wonderfully fresh hour of 5:15AM (I was late, as usual).
Once at the race, my day began rather inauspiciously as we were heading out to do a pre-race roll-around (note: this was by no means a warm-up). As I tried to show off my CX skill in the field-turned-parking-lot, I fell to the ground--much to the amusement of my teammates.
The race itself went off pretty slow at first. Two guys decided to head out at about mile 6, one guy was unattached and one guy was from the platoon that was Team Beacon. They held a 20 second or so gap for a long, long time. As it looked like they were to be caught, an attack went in and I joined a chase group of four or five. The six or seven of us worked very well together, running the gap up to 30 seconds again.
At this point, as told by Will C., random guys in the field started "attacking." I put attacking in quotes because it was more of a (horrendously ugly and consisting of poor form) sprint that happened to drag the entire field along. We came back with about 15-20 miles left.
At that point, I decided to do what I was supposed to be doing all along: sit in. I plopped myself onto Will C.'s wheel and, for the most part, never moved from it. Another break of six or seven went up the road but didn't gain much advantage. On the final circuit (the final 6 miles), a lone attack went that got quite a gap as everyone was tentative, not wanting to waste their energy for the sprint. Will P. did some great work at the front, keeping the pace high and the race safe while we debated whether or not to give a full chase to the one-man breakaway. The final stretch was long, maybe 3km corner to corner. At this point, the lone attacker was still up the road and we started to get mixed up in the argy-bargy. There was an intersection with a flashing yellow light at about 600m from the line. Mark went full gas at that point on the right as the field surged on the left. Will C. followed easily with me tucked behind him. I yelled a wee early for Will C. to go but he hit out anyways and I marvelled at how, under the power of Will's massive pistons, we went around people like they were standing still, including the single breakaway rider. I hit out for myself, also a wee bit early, with maybe 200-250m left. With about 75-100m to go, I looked behind and saw a few bodies in the distance but no one seemed to be closing. I had a good enough gap to sit up at the line and point at my jersey in recognition of one of the most phenomenal leadouts I've ever seen, let alone been a part of.
Will C. crossed the line in 9th, earning himself a cool $30 while Mark and Will P., their legs spent after all the support they gave me, rolled in with the field.
To add some symmetry and closure to the day, again, I tried to show off my CX skills in the field-turned-parking-lot, again, I fell over, again, much to the amusement of my teammates and the various officials, registration workers and young children who happened to witness the feat.
Now that I have the required points for an upgrade to Cat3, I'll be working in support of Mark for him to get an upgrade. Good luck Mark!
Once at the race, my day began rather inauspiciously as we were heading out to do a pre-race roll-around (note: this was by no means a warm-up). As I tried to show off my CX skill in the field-turned-parking-lot, I fell to the ground--much to the amusement of my teammates.
The race itself went off pretty slow at first. Two guys decided to head out at about mile 6, one guy was unattached and one guy was from the platoon that was Team Beacon. They held a 20 second or so gap for a long, long time. As it looked like they were to be caught, an attack went in and I joined a chase group of four or five. The six or seven of us worked very well together, running the gap up to 30 seconds again.
At this point, as told by Will C., random guys in the field started "attacking." I put attacking in quotes because it was more of a (horrendously ugly and consisting of poor form) sprint that happened to drag the entire field along. We came back with about 15-20 miles left.
At that point, I decided to do what I was supposed to be doing all along: sit in. I plopped myself onto Will C.'s wheel and, for the most part, never moved from it. Another break of six or seven went up the road but didn't gain much advantage. On the final circuit (the final 6 miles), a lone attack went that got quite a gap as everyone was tentative, not wanting to waste their energy for the sprint. Will P. did some great work at the front, keeping the pace high and the race safe while we debated whether or not to give a full chase to the one-man breakaway. The final stretch was long, maybe 3km corner to corner. At this point, the lone attacker was still up the road and we started to get mixed up in the argy-bargy. There was an intersection with a flashing yellow light at about 600m from the line. Mark went full gas at that point on the right as the field surged on the left. Will C. followed easily with me tucked behind him. I yelled a wee early for Will C. to go but he hit out anyways and I marvelled at how, under the power of Will's massive pistons, we went around people like they were standing still, including the single breakaway rider. I hit out for myself, also a wee bit early, with maybe 200-250m left. With about 75-100m to go, I looked behind and saw a few bodies in the distance but no one seemed to be closing. I had a good enough gap to sit up at the line and point at my jersey in recognition of one of the most phenomenal leadouts I've ever seen, let alone been a part of.
Will C. crossed the line in 9th, earning himself a cool $30 while Mark and Will P., their legs spent after all the support they gave me, rolled in with the field.
To add some symmetry and closure to the day, again, I tried to show off my CX skills in the field-turned-parking-lot, again, I fell over, again, much to the amusement of my teammates and the various officials, registration workers and young children who happened to witness the feat.
Now that I have the required points for an upgrade to Cat3, I'll be working in support of Mark for him to get an upgrade. Good luck Mark!
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