Recipe

I really like NinjaDon's recipe and I decided to post one of my own recipes:

Victory Cake (Serves 1):

1 c. tranquillo
1 tbp. gusto
2 bunches of courage
1 well-seasoned teammate

Mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl or (Cat3) Cup (race). Beat (everyone else) into a smooth, pasty batter. Pour (some sugar on me) into a 40cm X 4m glass baking dish and and bake at 0°C.

--

I raced twice yesterday. Maybe once-and-a-half is more accurate. I am dumbfounded at the result I got at Medford. Without solid form (I think) and not having been on the road bike in a week, I have no idea how that happened. All I can do is look at Todd and assume he did an absolutely incredible job of discouraging chases and covering moves. Not to mention him putting me into position with one to go. So, in all honesty, this is really Todd's result.

Owasco -- teh Suck

What is stupider than mountain biking?

Time-trialing.

Owasco started off with a 12.5ish mile TT. I rode complete and utter Merckx-style (i.e. sans aero of any sort) and still beat at least 20 d-bags with cash to burn (30'03"). Losers. But I sunburned my hands since I wasn't wearing gloves.

We sat around until the criterium. I spent some of that time sleeping on the concrete sidewalk outside the Auburn Wegmans. It was a really, really dumb criterium. I have no idea how I ended up with position going into the final turn (less than 100m from the uphill finish to the line -- yeah, like I said, really, really dumb) and pulled off 2nd after yet another d-bag (true story, ask Mark) from MIT pulled a cheeky move and chopped everyone to the inside.

The road race, despite being the worst ever, was awesome. I picked up some more bonus time (like that was going to help me, 2'30" down) in the first sprint. I came unhitched on the first KOM climb, a 1.2 mile 7% deal. I was in the third group over . . . the seven of us chasing back (ok, so honestly it was me and two Van Dessels chasing back, the rest were teh suxors) for 20 minutes. As soon as we got back on to the leaders, my back tire picked up a sweet sharp stone and went flat. Got a wheel change, chased back with two others (even more useless and lame than the non-Van Dessels in the first chase) with a bit of help from the wheel and follow car for another 20 minutes. Hung on for about 30 more minutes and then went *POP* on a section that looked like it came from a saltbox roof. Oh well. At least I chased back on twice.

P.S. I didn't finish.

P.P.S. Todd needs to go to man school.

P.P.P.S. Mark needs to go to potty training.

Raaaaaaaaachester - The Race

So the actual race:

Have a look on the website for course description, etc. Its a six or seven or eight turn beast with quite a decent rise out of the last few corners into a false flat finish. After a while, you lose count of how many corners there are.

From years past, I've learned that of all races, this one absolutely demands you be at the front all the time. When you squeeze 100 sketchball 3s and 4s onto narrow streets and alleys, people get popped like mad. There's a staging area on the back of the course and we roll to the start/finish about five minutes before the start. The instructions included the request to "parade, at 10 mph, wave to the crowd" so as to make them feel a part of it. These instructions were most definitely NOT followed. People basically went full gas to get to the start line . . . so dumb.

At least I knew the course fairly well so knew to be on the outside through most of the turns. It took a few laps to move up to the front, I took about a 2 lap flyer off the front then shut down the usual Jenksster-style stupid racing and sat in for the final 10 laps or so. There were multiple nasty crashes, I stayed upright the whole time, though came close to losing my front wheel on the white painted stripes once.

The last lap was sketchy, as expected. I had decent but not great position, maybe top 10 going into the tight and technical portion when I got nudged out and came within centimeters of hitting hay bales. I lost about 10 spots and could only make up a few in the finish that was absolutely tailor-made for me . . . managed to come around about ten guys through the finishing straight for a 7th place finish. Not a great result, but encouraging due to the powerful burst I put in to come around so many in the finish.

We quickly packed up and went home to shower and then headed back for the pro race. I stopped by the prize tent to pick up my quite generous $55 winnings and promptly gave half of that away for the crowd prime for the pro race (it was a $1300 prime!!). The pro race was sweet . . . though we pretty much missed the *real* race part, when a break of six, including Navigators' Kyle Wamsley and defending champion Hilton Clarke went away within the first fifteen minutes. Still, they were flying even when the break lapped the field. Whitey hung in there, looking really strong the whole time and may have even finished in the money (Top 25). I screamed at him and Myerson, though not as hard as I scream at karaoke.

They rung the bell for the field with three to go and we saw a pretty decent sprint and then, with two to go and the breakmates all on their own, it was pretty obvious who was going to win. Hilton Clarke crossed the line arms raised with at least a bike-length and a half for his second win in as many years at Rochester.

In the write-up in the paper the following day, all the pros that were interviewed had nothing but great things to say about the course, the promotion and the 30,000+ crowd. All in all, a great race full of awesomeness.

Tired, So Tired

Ronde van Mullica was awesome! We had a five-car caravan heading down there and the course is great (it's flat, very flat, mostly). The best part about the 3/4 race was that people were civilized at the start. There wasn't any of that go hard, go hard, go hard right off the bat (we had 47 miles still to cover) and it was quite a gentlemanly pace with some light conversation and good laughs.

After about five or six minutes, I went to the front to set tempo. Mostly, it was to warm up but it was also to discourage attacks and give Mark an armchair ride. For about ten or twelve minutes, I sat on the front, spinning the cranks, well within my limit, not burning matches. It wasn't a blistering pace, but it was fast enough that it was single file for six or so guys until the arrowhead formed. That was soooo awesome and encouraging to see.

Despite the not-so-great result we produced, I had a great time. I did have a momentary lapse in concentration and allowed a five-man break to get too much time on us before getting back on the front to ride tempo and keep it reasonable, but I suppose I can't be controlling the race the entire time . . . just most of the time. Since I didn't have to worry about saving my energy for the sprint (other than to lead Mark out) and every serious attack I'd make would get an immediate response, I took a lot of pleasure in simply controlling the front by riding just fast enough to discourage any further break attempts. So much fun.

The P/1/2/3 went off as predicted: a large break (really almost half the field, including all the big guns) went at about four miles in. I saw it, knew it was THE move and said to myself, "No way." The second race was purely for training purposes to get the mileage up. I ended up pulling the plug after the fourth lap (of six) since my knee started to bother me and I was getting quite tired.

All in all, a GREAT day of racing. I'm really looking forward to Rocky Hill as another opportunity to work for someone else and control the race as it should be!

Teh Awesomer Wedding

Ok, Blogger, let's have a truce for now so I can write this post.

Last Thursday, I drove to beautiful and historic Hillsborough, NC for the Monson-Younger wedding. It took 7 hours to get there but was absolutely worth it. I got to the hotel with just enough time to shower, clean up and change for that day's event: the bachelor party. We even had our own coozies that were appropriately labeled Monson's Last Day on Earth. A recounting of the evening's events in full follows:

this section edited for content and brevity
. . . had a few beers on the bus . . . had a few more beers at the first bar . . . had a few beers with dinner . . . had a few beers after dinner . . . stumbled upon an in-progress speed-dating event . . . had a few more beers . . . got kicked out of our final destination . . . observed that every inch of the bathroom EXCEPT the toilet was covered in [name withheld to protect the innocent]'s regurgitated dinner . . . passed out . . .
end edited section

We went to lunch Friday at the very tasty Bandidos in downtown historic Hillsborough, nursing hangovers and beers.

Good Mexican and tasty beers

After lunch we got prettied up and went to the gorgeous and historic Younger home for some cocktails and snacks. The house was built in the 1820s and is absolutely magnificent. I wish I had brought my camera. As the wedding party departed for the rehearsal ceremony, a few of us stayed behind to make sure the bottoms of our beers and cocktails were thoroughly dry.

The rehearsal dinner was held at yet another historic location in Hillsborough. Dinner included baked beans, chicken and BBQ (the real kind) and was delicious (as is anything that Koops has a hand in). A blues band was playing most of the evening and was really fantastic, though I must admit that the times they sounded best were when either Monson or Andy was playing the harmonica with them.

Arriving at the rehearsal dinner with three beautiful ladies

After the dinner and many inebriated speeches and toasts, the younger lot of us (not to be confused with the Younger lot of us) headed to the Wooden Nickel, a great little bar in the downtown area. To give the NJ folks a sense of space, think Clydz and then cut that in half. It was small. However, they had both Blue Moon and #9 on tap, so I was happy. All I can say is that good times were had by most.

The following day I made the 2 hour drive to Davidson to have lunch with my best friend from college and to surprise another one of our friends. You might think driving four hours just to spend an hour eating pizza and garlic knots with a couple guys is crazy. You would be wrong, with this crowd, it's worth every mile.

I got back just in time to shower and put on my best for the ceremony. Most weddings are beautiful, however, this one was exquisite. Before Koops even walked in, I could feel some tears welling up at the first few chords of Canon in D. The whole process was short but oh-so-sweet. Unfortunately, there was no flash photography allowed inside the church, so this is all you get of the ceremony:

Andy does a great job watching the door despite being quite intoxicated

I'll spare you most of the details of the reception other than that it continued in the style of the ceremony: exquisite. I got my dances out of the way quickly:

First with the bride . . .

. . . then with the groom

After the reception we all went back over to the Wooden Nickel to cap off the evening, except for the newlyweds, of course, as they had some business to attend to. I had a Drink Your Blue Moon Faster Race, losing the first heat but winning the second. Note that this is not to be confused with a chugging contest. A Drink Your Blue Moon Faster Race is F1 Series to a chugging contest's NASCAR (i.e. it's not a hillbilly activity). Good times, again. The evening was capped off with 2.5 hours of excellent conversation in an attempt to sober up before going to bed to avoid the always-dreadful long-drive-home-with-a-hangover. At 4:30, my head hit the pillow immensely satisfied.

Sunday morning came very quickly and I felt the effects of limited sleep over the previous three days (not so much hungover though . . . thanks Marth). I also had a sinking feeling in my stomach, the same one I had on my drive home from Davidson after graduation. No matter how much we argue, how much we insult, how much we glare, I always know I can count on a few people and most of those few were in attendance that weekend. This picture of Andy I snagged around 9AM on Sunday morning pretty much captures the whole weekend.

Passed out on top of the sheets in full tux, but with enough sense to remove his wallet

The weekend was simultaneously one of the best and worst of my life. Why it was one of the best is easy to see. The problem is, being one of the best made leaving on Sunday awfully difficult. It's a give-and-take, I suppose. Given the chance, though, I'd do it all over again, exactly the same way, in a heartbeat.

Now I just need more friends to get married!

TheFuriousJenksster

Redemption came in the form of a podium at the US Bicycling Hall of Fame Criterium in Somerville, NJ. It was still hot, though not the hellish inferno that was Manville yesterday.

I don't remember much other than pounding the first couple laps to string it out and cause pain and my bridging effort at the end. I like seeing the look of fear in everyone's eyes when the Green and Yellow take to the line.

I wasn't paying attention to the lap cards so when they cut a few out to accomodate the Pro race, I didn't notice. What I did notice was that with 4 to go, there was a lone breakaway with four chasing. I had been cruising at the back for a while, biding my time so had some energy and those famous "itchy feet" to propel me to and off of the front. I was amazed to look back and still have a big gap on the field after half a lap. I covered the 25 or so second gap in about two laps, leaving one and a half to recover. It wasn't quite enough as we came up the short hill to the final corner. When the first impatient break rider jumped, I wanted to latch on his wheel but couldn't. All that I could get hold of was Gabriel Lloyd's wheel, who I later easily came around (take THAT you doubters, Mark and Will, oh ye of little faiths) to take 3rd.

I'm looking forward to Somerville on Monday and hoping it comes down to a field sprint. It could end up being a lot of fun.

Circuito de Evesham Race Report -or- Tyler Wren is a Nice Guy

I lifted this from my post to the HPHermes and RU email lists, so if you've already read it there, you can skip the dashed off parts:

--
Ok, so now that I have filled my belly with a few meals since the
race, I think I have the energy to recount it.

I took last week easy because, as Todd and Andy can attest from last
Sunday, my legs really, really needed it.

The course is a two turn 1.6km (1mi for you Imperialists) loop in an
office park with exposed windy sections and a slight rise going into
the final turn. The zenith of the rise is about 500m from the line
and about 200m before the last turn. The Cat3 race was scheduled to
go 27 laps, taking the line after the Masters race had finished.
There looked to be a few promising breaks. One in particular
contained 7-8 which I had missed out on. When the gap was at about 15
seconds, I bridged. This doomed the break because, as I later found
out, I was basically racing with a target on my back. So nothing
stuck and it was gruppo compatto for the final four or five laps. On
the last lap, I was sitting at the front waiting for the wind up into
the small rise. Once we crested it, one rider punched it hard on the
left and everyone (myself included) hesitated waiting for someone to
close. The moments of hesitation proved too much and I managed a 2nd
place finish . . . hoodwinked again!

I had about an hour to kill as the 4/5 race took place so I sat on the
newly-fixed trainer keeping the legs fresh and downing a bottle of
Cytomax. I should have eaten something, but hindsight is 20/20, of
course.

The P/1/2/3 race was about 60km and featured Tyler Wren of
Colavita-Sutter Home as well as many of the top NJ 1s, 2s and 3s
including a large Northeastern Hardware crew and an equally large
Metra-Ideal Tile crew (the latter brought radios, kinda lame if you
ask me). The race was stupid fast from the whistle. A break of 3-5
had a 30 second gap about midway through and looked strong but was
eventually reeled in. At about 5 laps to go, I began to feel the lack
of food and lack of hydration in my legs. Being on the rivet for
about 90% of the time had my back and neck a bit sore, too. At some
point, two Northeastern riders got off the front (my head was buried
so I couldn't tell you when) and were able to hold it to the line. On
the last lap I found the wheel of none other than Tyler Wren himself,
though, despite sitting pretty in 5th or 6th wheel, discovered that
when I tried to make my sprint, my legs seized up. I sat up and got
out of the way, finishing 27th. Northeastern ended up going 1-2-3.

Overall, great weather and great competition made the race a spectacular choice.
--

Missing out on the Cat3 race was really disappointing. Live and learn, I suppose. The P/1/2/3 race was great fun. It really was hard all the time. I had a chance to speak to Tyler Wren afterward and I was really impressed by his genuine character and earnest interest in the goings-on of the "lowly" amateurs with whom he had raced. He was really personable and races 'cross, to boot. What's not to like about this guy? Plus, he's obviously got a massive engine but no pop for a sprint to speak of . . . a great leadout man!

This weekend is going to be lots of fun and filled with good results, I can feel it.

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.

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!