Lactate Intolerant

Bound Brook Crit

2010-05-31T19:12:00.002-06:00

Well, after three months with nothing to write about I had my first decent result, so I figured I'd better say something.

For whatever reason, Memorial Day weekend is synonymous with a big weekend of criteriums. In Iowa, its the Quad Cities. In NYC, its the Tour of Somerville. The Bound Brook Crit is day 3, Sunday, in central New Jersey. A pretty straight forward flat six corner race, just my type!

Actually, there isn't a lot to say about the race. A couple of girls from Team Type 1 started in our 3/4 field and seemed determined to chick the field. They did a pretty good job too, maintaining a presence in just about every breakaway. I sat in the first few laps, watching attacks and waiting for a good one. On lap 5, a move of 3 was dangling, so I made the jump across. I was with them by the back straight and pulled hard for half a lap. We had a decent gap and I felt surprisingly good, but no one was pulling through. Actually, the TT1 girl was pulling through better than the two other guys, which doesn't necessarily speak well for our chances.

The pack ate us up on lap 6 and I started sitting in, figuring my chances were better in a sprint than an uncommitted breakaway. The remaining laps ticked by pretty quickly and before I knew it we had two to go and I needed to move up. Entering the bell lap I was in the top ten and on the back stretch I was in the top five, but the pack was pretty nervous. A big move went up the inside and I hesitated, missing my ticket at the front of the race. Going through the last two corners, I was at least 10 spots back and when the sprint opened up I passed as many people as I could before finishing 3rd.

The race wasn't actually that hard. It definitely wasn't as bad as the hurt Chris put on me the day before at Bear Mountain. I have mixed feelings about the finish. On the one hand I made some silly mistakes that cost me a better chance at the win. The winner, James Joseph, probably would have taken the race anyway, since he's just about the best cat 3 at these types of races. At the same time my legs felt really great, both in the breakaway and the sprint, and its always great to end up on the podium. Next time I want first!

BIke Snob stepping up?

2010-02-15T20:30:00.005-07:00

I got this in the mail the other day:

That's right, our very own BSNYC is hitting the big time. I think every cyclist has read the blog at one time or another. I know I still give it a look when I'm cynical mood.

I was surprised by the earnest (by his standards) tone of the first chapter. And its true, Snob has tempered some of his trademark venom throughout the book. He starts by writing a history of cycling in NYC, then goes on to talk about what cycling means to him and how you can make the most of cycling. But by the time he starts describing the different types of cyclists the jokes are coming pretty heavy and by the third chapter he's knee deep in snark. Most people are aware that Snob's a self proclaimed "curmudgeon" (read: constant long winded ranting) and his jokes and sarcasm pretty much the same here, so don't expect too much new.

The impressive part is the message: that we should do anything to people on bikes. I learned that lesson back when I was working for the Flanders brothers. Despite having a reputation for being the biggest euro-snobs in the Midwest, Scott and Jimmer's everyday life was pretty much about getting people, casual or serious, to ride their bikes (and sell a couple, since they ran a bike shop). Its a testament to the power of riding a bike that people so deeply invested in the insular culture of cycling are still so passionate about sharing it with others.

Anyway, its not a bad book and contains a message worth reading, but I'm not sure its going to advance the intellect of the average cyclist.

Cold

2010-01-02T09:37:00.000-07:00

Maybe it will get above freezing today?

Running

2009-12-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

Well faithful readers, I spent a lot of time running this fall. In October I was having a blast and built up to some 30 mile weeks, but a bout of the flu and some unexpected trips sorta slowed things down. It still felt good to mix things up a little bit and slow things down from biking.

Someday, I'd like to run a three hour marathon. I'm not entirely sure why, but three hours seems like a good accomplishment. Its the time Lance ran the first time he did the NYC marathon and its a little faster than the qualifying time for Boston.

Two years ago I ran four hours at Philadelphia and I'm pretty sure I could lop an hour off that with some really good training. I was pumped put in some good miles this fall, but I didn't have the motivation to push through the aches and pains that come with running lots of miles (well, 30 miles is a lot for me). Maybe next year, maybe after that, either way there were times when I felt really good running and I'd like to figure out how to make that happen more often.

Seasons over

2009-10-19T20:53:00.000-06:00

Well, races are done for the year.

30 races

3 time trials
2 stage races
2 mountain bike races
4 track days

2 wins!
2 more helping Larry
3 more podiums

I probably went a little far with the number of races. I'd like to it be closer to 20, but track racing and stage racing kept things interesting.

My sprint was pretty good and I could put down power where I needed to. My TT definitely needs to improve, and entering more TTs would probably help. My climbing was just good enough that I wasn't in trouble, but that may change in cat 3 races.

The races that really stand out to me are Tour de Parc (duh), Giro di Jersey and Fitchburg (stage racing is fun), and Naugatuck (2 hours of criteriums, 120 miles total). I like the criteriums and I think I'd like to do more next year. Next year I want to use races for training more, too, specifically the 1/2/3 Prospect Park races and the weekday track races.

For now I've been doing a lot of running. 24 miles this week (which, for me, is a lot). More on that later.

OK I lied, there might be one more race this year: anyone interested?

Womens world champs.

2009-09-23T12:39:00.002-06:00

Big news in the world champs today.

No, not that (Kristin) Armstrong won, though that is pretty cool. No, its that the tiny country of St Kitts and Nevis, with its population of 40,000 (about the same as my hometown) was able to field two riders. 'So what' you may say. And true, they did finish dead last and fourth from last in the TT, but that this tiny country even fields a team is amazing. Each country needs a certain number of UCI points, from UCI races, to qualify to send two riders to world champs. To get these kind of results from a limited gene pool shows certain dedication to the sport which is hard not to admire.

If all this sounds a little familiar, its because I wrote about Bertine's crazy journey last year. Its good to see a dream coming true.

In other news, Kristin Armstrong never looks so good during a TT. It looks like she's about to die here:

Weight

2009-09-04T16:47:00.000-06:00

In January, I was (Don't round up!)
All summer, I was
I'd like to be
(cuz then I could climb)

And if anyone is wondering if its strange for a guy with a BMI of 22 to be this concerned with his weight: I assure you, its a perfectly reasonable level of obsession.

Track Bike

2009-09-03T19:52:00.003-06:00

Isn't it pretty?

Custom Serotta titanium frame, D/A drivetrain, too bad its not mine. Greg loaned me his old track bike for the Labor Day meet. 175mm cranks and a good fit combined with some off the track training should leave me with no excuses. It fits just like my road bike, which makes sprinting more natural. Now I just need to figure out how to get Greg to forget I have it...

2009-08-28T10:59:00.003-06:00

I always, without failure, chose the slowest cashier at the grocery store. I'm also pretty good at chosing the slowest lane of traffic. All this despite a combined 5 years working at a grocery store and pizza delivery.

Finally!

2009-08-23T20:12:00.002-06:00

Shimano started making 11-25 cassettes! I ran an 11-23 all this year and I couldn't tell you how the extra 16 tooth cog felt different than the old 16t-less nine speed. It could just be that I spent all those years mountain biking (or that I still ride a single to work every day), but I've never felt the need for a corn cob cassette. I have, on occasion (Bear Mtn comes to mind), wished for a lower gear. Also, with an 11-25 and a 42 tooth, you can spend a lot less time shifting and have cleaner shifts up front when you need to.

How to win a sprint, by Tom Boonen

2009-08-21T15:03:00.002-06:00

Or, How to come in second, despite having better fitness, by Tyler Farrar.

I've been waiting for an American sprinter to show some form for a while now, so watching Farrar these last few months has been a real treat. He's got a lot of potential but still a little rough around the edges, as Tom Boonen shows here.

From the beginning of the of the last turn, it begins to unravel for Farrar. Follow Boonen's Red, Yellow and Black through the video to see whats going on.

2:01 The peleton enters the last turn; Boonen is just inside and behind Farrar.
2:02 Boonen takes a tight inside line while Farrar takes a wobbly outside line
2:04 The group comes out of the turn and Boonen and Farrar bump, Farrar cedes the better line.
2:06 Behind Boonen, Farrar fights with Chicchi for Boonen's wheel and eventually wins it.
2:10 Farrar is forced to close the gap that opened while he was fighting for Boonen's wheel. All this while Boonen has had a clean, steady wheel to follow
2:18 Farrar is still in good position, on Boonen's wheel inside of 500 meters. Boonen has a slightly better position behind Mark Renshaw (aka the reason Cav won all those tour stages), but Farrar should have a good enough sprint to make up the difference.
2:20 Boonen starts his acceleration and moves right, Farrar slides to Boonen's right. This is the key point in the sprint, Tyler needs to make use of the open space to the right and accelerate past Boonen or back off and wait for a differnt line, but instead hesistates.
2:21 Farrar starts his acceleration, but it is too late.
2:23 Boonen has moved right and closed the hole Farrar was trying to use.
2:24 Farrar has to stop and restart his sprint to the left.
2:26 Farrar is boxed in by Renshaw and has to wait to come around Boonen.
2:28 Enough of a gap opens that Farrar can accelerate, but he's within 50 meters now and doesn't have the space to get around Boonen.

All of this happens in less than 30 seconds and its never a bad thing to be runner up to a guy with Tom's resume, but if Tyler had made just a single decision differently, he would have had an easy win. Tom illustrates how the right moves can make up a big difference in fitness at the end of a race. Nevertheless, Tyler has shown to be in the top level of Euro sprinters which is the first time an American has been there.

First Try at Track Racing

2009-08-13T07:05:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I picked up Mark and headed down to the Kissena velodrome to give track racing a try. I borrowed a bike (a Gitane!) and entered the cat 5 race. Mark was nice enough to give me a few tips as we warmed up. Apparently it worked, cuz I won the three races I entered, the Win and Out, Points and Scratch races. Hopefully I can make it back next week to race on the track some more.

During the racing I got to meet no one line and some other cool trackies. I like small events, people are a little more friendly when there aren't 150 people in a race. Kind of reminded me of ski jumping.

Hurrah!

2009-08-06T10:24:00.000-06:00

Dear Karl Nelson, The following request to change your USCF category has been approved and processed by USA Cycling:knelson3111 - 2009-07-21 9:14Member: Karl NelsonLicense: Road RacerRequest to change category from Cat 4 to Cat 3

Short Thoughts

2009-08-04T09:06:00.005-06:00

If you scroll down and listen, Jens Voigt reluctently says he won't ride this years Tour of Denmark, which I guess implies he was planning on riding it before his horrific crash. I didn't realize it until now, but the Tour of Denmark starts only 2 days after the other Tour finished. Thats 26 days of racing over one month. Wow.

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Giant is releasing some light mountain bikes next year. They're offering a Reign X frame with almost 7" of travel that comes in just over 6 pounds. For comparison, the '06 BMC Fourstroke I sometimes race on weighs about the same.

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If you like watching the Classics (races, that is) you need to be watching Cyclocosm's How the Race Was Won. His blog is alright, but these 3 minute highlight reels break down the race in frightening detail. He's at his best covering one day races, where skill and guile can make up for brute strength and every little tactical move is important.

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I've added a link to the side to search my blog. Everyone should have one of these in their blogs, since blogs are a sort of personal history.

Cadence number 6

2009-08-02T14:13:00.007-06:00

6th round of the Cadence Cup. Larry's still leading Polka Dots and Pink (whats with the womens clothing for leaders?). I was a few points out of Green, so my mission for the day was winning both sprints and helping Larry when I could.

The sprints went alright. I snagged the first one with a little effort. They rang the bell again a lap later and it was time to work again. John helped me out both times, but I was caught a little flat footed the second time around and was runner up. First and second gave me 5 more points, enough to get past the current leader with 8 points, but someone got 3 more points and was able to sneak past both of us. So, no green jersey's for me.

After that it was help out Larry time. He got pretty good leadouts for both KOMs and now he has first place in the bag. In the final sprint he was boxed out and too far back for any points. Luckily, second place in the GC didn't get any points either, but Larry's got a really slim lead going into next week and is going to need a good result to finish in the top spot.

The cat 4's were especially excitable. In addition to the usually yelling and hand waving, on the final lap I heard guys yelling out "hold your line in the turn" and "don't cut me off". Um, what? This is bike racing. The whole point of the race is to finish ahead of you. If I have the skills to take your spot in the field, without causing a crash, I'm going to. If you don't like fighting for a wheel, enter a time trial.

Waiting for the start

Sprinting for green points.

Leading Larry for polka dots.

This guy was doing laps while we were racing. If you look closely, you'll see an electric assist like we used to install at Edina Bike.

2009-07-26T19:54:00.002-06:00

Tori was out of town this weekend, so I regressed back to the life I led when I lived by myself. This involves a lot of biking and watching TV.

Saturday I got up bright and early to go do another round and round in Prospect Park. Larry's still leading the pink and polka dot jerseys (jeez, ya sandbagger) so the goal was to defend. On the first KOM, a break was away so we didn't need to work. On lap seven they rang the sprint bell for the green jersey. I haven't really been paying attention to that competition, but when the pace slowed just before the finish, I saw a sweet chance for an attack. Immediately I had a big gap on the field, but whoops! I was a lot further out than I anticipated. I was able to hold it to the line, but I really hurt myself doing it. Two laps later, they rang it again. I was not in the mood to sprint again, but two guys were away, so the field didn't ramp it up. When the Kissena guy in green jumped, I waited, waited and finally pipped him at the line. So now I have 4 points, which puts me 4 more points out of the lead; I guess I need to do something about that.

The rest of the race was fairly uneventful. Larry was able to take the second KOM to put himself pretty much out of reach in that one, but in the chaotic final he only got 10th, so he's barely leading the pink. John and Rob weren't feeling very good, which only left Larry and I to work together. Where were you Chris? We missed you. There are some pictures here, but I'm not in any of them.

Today I woke up at six for the Early Birds, but the skys weren't cooperating and I didn't feel like riding in the rain. When I finally got off the couch and on the bike, it was six pm and I rode up Broadway Hill about a dozen times. I was climbing really well. My overall fitness hasn't been that great this year, but I was climbing as well or better than I was June 2008, which felt pretty good. Too bad I didn't have these legs a month ago.

Jens Voigt Lives!

2009-07-25T11:02:00.002-06:00

Its funny to hear the German use the word "bummer".

Naugatuck Criterium and my own personal tour of Fairfield County

2009-07-21T11:56:00.003-06:00

Well, its been 5 days since my eventful ride through CT and I have yet to report. I've been in a really lazy mood this week. I haven't touched my bike or thought about riding much at all. I'm supposed to race tomorrow morning, so it should be interesting.

Anyway, the day started at 9 am when I caught the ferry to Connecticut. The plan was to ride up to the Naugatuck Criterium, do the race and ride home. It was a beautiful summer day so I was looking forward to ride. I had my route mapped out to snake up towards Naugatuck along the rivers in CT, but I brought along the GPS just in case. Sure enough, I got a little lost pretty quickly. It wasn't far out of the way, but my detour took me over an extra hill and an extra half hour. On the map, my route looked pretty straightfoward, but I wasn't expecting the hills in Connecticut. Image my surprise when I came to the last leg of my trip to Naugatuck and saw this.

When I finally got to the race, I was out of breath, water and time. Luckily they had to delay the start, so I got a half hour to sit in the shade and eat and drink a little before the race. The course was pretty straightforward; a long skinny triangle with two fast square corners, a couple little rollers, a slow final turn and a long straight to the finish. John Sebat showed up at the last minute and raced the 4/5 race with me. I was still a little tired after the ride to the race, so I decided to sit in. The pace wasn't to bad, so I could surf wheels through the pack pretty easily. A two man break got away for a few laps and looked pretty strong, but after a prime they came back pretty quick. The first two corners were fast and I could take them flat out. People were rather hesitant for some reason, so cornering was a good way to gap the field. I'd dangle off the front a little bit, but I wasn't really looking for a breakaway.

With 10 to go, I felt the twinges of a cramp. I was eating and drinking as much as I could, but in the hot sun it was hard to shake off the cramps. They never got terrible, but I was very mindful of what my legs could and could not do. The last five laps were pretty mellow, everybody was waiting until the last lap to try to attack. Sure enough, on the back stretch people started attacking. It was a series of counterattacks from there. The last counterattack came on the final slope right before the finishing straight. I couldn't follow his move and got gapped before the final sprint. Because of the cramps, I had to sprint sitting down and spinning out my little ring, but I almost closed on him before the finish. Second place was still pretty good.

Since George wasn't able to make his prereg'd 4/5 race, they let me race the 3/4s for free. I knew I wasn't going to have the legs to do well, so I spent most of the race using the tailgunning* technique Mike Bantle taught me back in MN. So I waited and waited at the back. Finally with 4 to go, I started moving up. At one point I found myself pulling on the front, but that didn't last long. I was well positioned for the final lap, but I couldn't hold the pace in the final 1k and finished 24th, which I was fine with.

I stuck around and watched a bit of the 1/2 race before my ride back to the ferry.

Those guys go fast! Actually, there was a girl in the race too, which impressed me.

There was a ride home was pretty easy, outside of Andrew Mt Rd, which hurt. A lot.

I saw Sikorsky's main facility on the way home. I think i'd like to work for them some day.

Then I got on the ferry just before sunset. It was a nice day with almost 120 miles, over 50 racing and only an 18 mph average. (like I said, hilly!)

*Tailgunning- When you aren't concerned about a split in the field, a crash or making any breakaways, it is actually easier to sit 3-4 bike lengths off the back in a criterium. You can avoid surges in the pack, don't need to fight for position and can take any line in the corners while still getting a pretty good draft. Of course, you're still at the back of the race.

What is the appropriate response?

2009-07-15T13:24:00.004-06:00

"Karl,

I received your resume from Chad Korach some time ago. There is a potential opening in our design engineering group. Please let me know if you are interested.

Regards,

------
VP Engineering
Arkwin Industries Inc "

As a near graduate with no future employement, how do i respond?

a) YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

b) Pretty please give me a job.

c) I appreciate your interest, but I'm forgoing a future of material affectations and roaming the country as a hobo.

d) ?

2009-07-13T16:06:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I went on the EB ride. It was perfect. Only 7 guys showed and the pace was mellow and aerobic, just what I needed. Trevor was taking impressive pulls. Most people were either at the Gold Coast century or racing in Unionvale, but where was Percy?

Apparently I'm the #1 cat 4 criterium racer in New York (thanks Larry). Seriously, check it out. Given that I've only raced 3 crits this year, those USA Cycling rankings are pretty messed up.

Quick thoughts

2009-07-11T20:09:00.003-06:00

ABC is pumping a new reality show. The premise? People dating in the dark. Between this and that cougar dating show I feel like I'm watching SNL skits from three years ago. Is it possible for a genre to jump the shark?
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I rebuilt the rear hub on my training wheels today. I've ridden these things pretty hard and haven't rebuilt them in a year and a half. Jim Flanders used to give me a hard time about rebuilding hubs with too much grease, but I think he's wrong. I packed these suckers full a year and a half ago and they're still fresh. Lots of grease means lots of sealing out the elements.
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I've been blogging a lot lately. I'm definitely not gonna keep up this pace. Consider it making up for last January-April...

Friday full of bike racing.

2009-07-10T13:32:00.006-06:00

I swore off the Tour de France this year. I've just got too much on my plate to be devoting three hours a day to the Tour. I've been good. No VS. Only visited cyclingnews.com until after the stages. Yesterday I cheated a little and caught the last 30 minutes of Millar's heartbreaking breakaway through a ticker feed. Today went to hell. It was too exciting not to watch. At first I just followed cyclingnews' live feed, but before I knew it I had three different cyclingfans feeds open in multiple languages.

And what a stage! Cancellara had nothing, Cadel Evans attacks (sign of the apocalypse?), Armstrong climbs and Contador. I kind of expected that out of him. He's young, strong, brash and has to remind everyone he's the one to beat. But he sure did it with style, didn't he? At least Ventoux will be on a Saturday.

All that excitement made me want to get out and turn the pedals myself. That and an inexorable desire to hand money to Chris made me drive down to the Kreb Races.

A small field showed up for the A race. Joe Zaverdas was the main guy to watch, and I've learned my lesson. The goal for the race was make sure I finished in the same group as Joe without completely blowing up.

Sure enough, he attacked with 15ish laps to go. Craig and some dude in red jumped on and I followed. Pretty quickly we had a good gap. Joe went like an animal and pretty soon I was feeling pretty lousy. I was impressed that Craig and red guy could pull through. A little bit more and it felt like a fat guy was sitting on my chest. Just in time, Rob pulled the group back up for the catch and everyone relented. From there nothing got away. Attack, chase, attack, chase. Joe took two primes, but nobody would go with him. I sat in mostly, actually pretty blatently, but it took me a long time to recover from the beating I took in that little breakaway.

In the sprint, Rob was nice enough to lead out and I sat a couple wheels back of Joe. Joe took off early and I sat, sat, sat and then wiggled around him by about half a wheel at the line. No my most impressive win, but I'll take what I get. Joe could have attacked 500 meters earlier and dropped me easily, so I appreciate him waiting.

Craig, George and Chris all showed up to race, even though they're going to race Union Vale on Sunday. Thats a true sign of toughness, punishing yourself for 90 minutes in a club race two days before a big hilly race. Good luck guys!

Tboughts has been racing too

2009-07-09T08:33:00.004-06:00

Tboughts is halfway through her assault of the H2H mountain bike series. Last week she grabbed second place in the Lewis Morris Challenge and is sitting 26 points behind 1st place in the cat 2 overall. This weekend is the Bulldog Rump, which also doubles as the NJ state championship. Its the toughest race of the year, so wish her luck!

Fitchburg Criterium

2009-07-07T07:39:00.003-06:00

The last stage of the Fitchburg Classic was the downtown criterium. Larry's Dad won this the second year it was held, when the classic was a one day event.

Our race was pretty much guaranteed to come down to a field sprint. Cat 4's rarely break away and now we had an overall leader and sprint leader with incentive to keep the race together. The course was long and narrow. The finishing stretch was uphill with a nasty headwind and the backstretch was fast. Corner one was a slow U turn while two and three were fast, bumpy 90 degree-ers.

I started out at the front with the intention of having a clear line and staying out of any crashes. After a few laps of battling for the 15th wheel in the race, I dropped back a bit more to around 40, where everyone was content with their position. A points sprints were announced and I was content to sit in, working hard but never really hurting.

On the second to last points sprint, with something like 12 to go, the pace really kicked up. A bunch of guys in the middle were fading fast, probably more from the accumulation of four days of racing than the actual pace. I jumped across a few gaps and got back up to the front, where I knew everyone could handle the pace. By five to go enough people had stopped pulling that I found myself second wheel, which was nice in the corners but I was catching a bit too much wind. I dropped back a little bit and let others take over.

With two to go, people started really working to get to the front. I'd follow fast wheels when I could, but people got pretty aggressive. On the second to last corner of the race, some guy flew up the inside of the group, dove into the corner and crashed into the opposite curb. I was sitting about 8 wheels back and narrowly missed him. Coming out of the last corner, I started to pass people when some guy comes powering up my right side. I grabbed his wheel and held on for dear life. He pulled me all the way to the front of the race and I held on for third place, a podium place and some lunch money.

The stage race was a lot of fun. All four races were fun in their own way and came together for a really interesting weekend. Larry and I pulled it together for some smart racing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday after our mediocre TTing on Thursday. The only thing I didn't really enjoy was sitting around a hotel room for five days waiting to race. I'm not sure how the pros do it, but I guess their races are a little harder than ours.

Fitchburg- Longsjo Stage 3

2009-07-04T18:48:00.002-06:00

No wins today, no podiums either. Larry and I rode with the front group all race but didn't have it at the end.

For whatever reason, they ran us with the pro men, cat 2 men and cat 1/2 women. Further, we were started ahead of the women. Wouldn't you know it, the women caught us at the beginning of the second lap. Then halfway through lap 2, the pro men lapped us. Thankfully, from there on out we were allowed to race as usual, but two long stops in a 41 mile road race sorta makes things a bit easier than they should be. Anyway, after all that waiting around I got kind of pissed off and rode harder than I probably should have.

The leader of our race is an animal. He spent all day on the front, chased down any attacks teams launched at him and still finished second. He's got a comfortable lead going into the crit tomorrow and unless some back luck hits him I'm sure he's got it wrapped up. I think he's riding without teammates, too.

The Juniors race has some real ringers in it (like just got back from Euro camp ringers) so some of them are racing cat 4s. If masters don't like senior racers, then seniors certainly don't like juniors. "Holdja line!"

Junior gearing is kinda dumb, but whats really dumb is using junior gearing in a TT. The juniors had to use a maximum 52x14 in the TT. I was in my 53x11 pretty regularly in the TT. I'm impressed by the juniors that managed top 10s on little gears.

I got to see the pros a few times and I'm not convinced they were going much faster than us. I know this is heresay, and I know their race was over twice as long as ours and lacked our two neutralizations, but I was expecting them to fly up the finishing climb. I'm probably wrong but I thought we went nearly as fast.

Tomorrow's the crit. I'm excited.

Fitchburg Circuit Race, just like Prospect

2009-07-03T11:49:00.004-06:00

Larry gave me the chance to come up to race the Fitchburg LongsJo Classic at the last minute. So here we are. The TT was yesterday. We both did surprising badly in a cat 4 only field, 44th and 50th, over two minutes down, so all GC hopes were ruined.

Today was the circuit race. The course is sort of like Prospect Park, except the hill is a little shorter and a little steeper and the finish is a the top. Competitions were run for the stage race, the GC and a points competition, so plenty of action was going on. After a couple of points primes, I could tell I wasn't going to do well in the finishing sprint up the hill. I tried rolling off the front halfway through the race, but no one wanted to join me so I was quickly back in the group.

With two laps to go, I got my butt up to the front of the race. On the last lap, Larry found my wheel and followed me down the hill. I gunned it down the back straight and went as hard as I could up to the final corner. When I peeled off, Larry was in the top five. He kicked it up the hill for the win!

Tomorrows the road race with another uphill finish, so we'll see if we can do the same thing.

Giro di Jersey Pictures

2009-06-23T18:18:00.003-06:00

Here I'm begging Tboughts for another bottle

Guess I got it back

Circuit Race

Field sprint

More here: http://eventmg.com/index_files/page0020.htm

Giro di Jersey Circuit Race

2009-06-21T17:12:00.003-06:00

Last day of the GdJ, more rain. The circuit race can be pretty hard. Because you've got four corners and three hills to sprint up every lap, if enough guys decide to turn the screws (like last year) it can be a real hour of suffering.

The race started out hard this year. Kelly Benefits was defending their leaders jersey and every time an attack would go, they'd jump on. After two laps, I didn't know if I'd make it to the end. A few guys got popped off the back in those first couple laps. On lap three a single guy got away and Kelly let him go. Since its an omnium (points not time), he didn't pose any GC threat no matter how much time he got. The rest of the race eased up a bit and I felt much more comfortable.

On the last lap Kelly and Westwood cranked it up a bit. Not so fast that I was in trouble, but fast enough that it was strung out and I couldn't move up very easily. On the back stretch I was sitting about 20th. Through turns 3 and 4, I took some sweet lines and shot up the inside to 10th place. As everyone opened up the sprint, I jumped from wheel to wheel until with 100 to go I jumped up the inside and came even with the leader and

...almost got him at the line.

My third and tenth were good enough for 7th in the GC, the first cat 4 in the race. Racing in the rain was fun, not that I'd want to do it every day, but it was a good change of pace.

I did a lot better this year than I did last; certainly a lot of that is due to smaller fields, but I raced a lot smarter. No more silly attacks off the front, any time I put in some effort it was with a lot of thought and I really think that paid off.

Giro di Jersey Rocky Hill RR

2009-06-21T11:18:00.004-06:00

The Rocky Hill road race is one of my favorites. Its a rolling course around the Millstone creek with one big climb. Its hard enough to make things interesting, but not so hard that it makes you consider taking up a nice gentle sport like yoga.

All the talk before the race was about whether or not the impending thunderstorms would hold off until after the race. Sure enough, halfway through lap one sprinkles started coming down. By lap three it was a full blow rainstorm. The rain added another element to the race. Everyone stayed upright, but people were hesitant to respond to attacks in the rain.

Laps one and two were pretty boring. I lost my bottle taking a bad line over the bridge after the downhill, but Tboughts got it back to me by lap three. Halfway through lap three, I went back to take a quick nature back and by the time I chased back on the lead car was gone. I asked around about what was going on, but no one knew if there is a break away. It stayed this way for the rest of the race. Westwood had numbers and the leaders jersey, but they didn't want to chase.

On the back stretch of the last lap, everyone at the front was making attacks. They weren't very good attacks (I was sitting on them in my little ring), but they served to bring the break back into sight by the final time up the hill. The pace up the final climb was fast, but I was able to hold on with just a little cramping. In fact, I came into the descent 3rd wheel. Going downhill in the rain was tense. Everyone was jockeying for position trying get in good position for the sprint. I followed the best wheels I could, got boxed out a couple times but was able to set up about 20th. I jumped a little early and made my way through the crowd, but I didn't have quite enough left and ended up tenth.

Tboughts and I stuck around to watch the pros finish. Troy Wells got in a late break and looked to be in good position for the win, but got his chain all wrapped up in his frame coming into the sprint and had to roll in fourth.

Giro di Jersey TT

2009-06-19T18:43:00.003-06:00

Today was the start of the Giro di Jersey, a 12 mile rolling time trial. I'm still not the best at time trials, I have no idea how to pace myself. I tried to start easy, since I usually peg it off the line and end up hurting in the second half. I guess I started too easy, because I was passed in the first 2 miles. After that, I used him as a rabbit and I almost immediately caught my 30 second man. I kept going, and got passed again but passed my minute man too. In the end I got 35th place. Its not as good as I was hoping for, but there were a lot of fast cat 3s.

Tomorrow is the Rocky Hill road race. Last year it was a ton of fun, the climb is a great place to let it rip and string the whole field out. My climbing hasn't been quite as good this year, but I'm still hoping for good things.

Friction and wear tests

2009-06-18T15:20:00.002-06:00

The last two and a half weeks I've been doing ball on flat tribotesting. It may be the most boring material test in the world.

9:00 Prepare test, start test.
11:00 Check test
1:00 Check test
3:00 Check test
5:00 Check test
7:00 Check test
7:15 Test over, remove sample.

Now, I'm all for time intensive protocols, but the whole thing is completely anticlimactic. Usually during testing something breaks or changes, all this test does it put a tiny scratch in the surface of my polymers. Only one more week...

In the mail today...

2009-06-16T20:09:00.003-06:00

I got an unmarked envelope in the mail today, delivered from Phoenix AZ. Open in and I find this cryptic page:

With this cryptic note in the upper corner.

Uh oh, guess this means I need to start checking my credit card statements again.

Another weekend of racing

2009-06-15T17:22:00.002-06:00

Two more races last weekend, but not without some bad luck.

Saturday morning, bright and early, was the Tour of New York, aka nine laps around Prospect Park. A big field showed up with lots of tough guys. Larry, Rob and I represented East End. Pretty standard stuff for most of the race, a few guys would get a gap and the team without a presence would chase chase chase. I led Rob out for the prime halfway through and he took it pretty easily. In the end, Larry tried to set me up for the sprint, but I forgot where I was and went to early. When I eased up to look for a wheel, the Kissena train simultaneously ran out of gas and I found myself with nowhere to go, so I sat up and let the second surge go by.

Next morning was AVD's nutty floyd crit. I was the only Kreb guy, but the field was quite a bit smaller. I felt pretty good and I think I was reading the race pretty well, but halfway through my tire went nice and flat. I had good legs for both races, but it didn't work out the way I wanted. Next week I'm going to do the Giro di Jersey, which was my favorite race this year. A little rain is in the forecast, but I'm still excited.

Sunday night I went to see The Hangover. Its hilarious, just about 90 straight minutes of laughing, Animal House style.

Highbridge Photos

2009-06-11T09:05:00.004-06:00

Tboughts won the womens field, again.

At least I look fast

Stolen without remorse from Anthony Collins, FullFramePro, Frank G and others.

NYCMTB Highbridge '09

2009-06-08T20:27:00.004-06:00

Attempt #2 at the only race I've done that emphasizes technical skill over fitness.

It was a pretty uneventful race except for a full on, head first, dazed and confused rookie crash on the first lap. After that I spent most of my time chasing back. Its a tough race course, but a fun day and its amazing the difference in Highbridge Park that NYCMTB has made in just the last year.

2009-06-02T18:01:00.002-06:00

schmalz When you're in the pack, and it's a slow day and the break's away, who do you usually chat up? Is it just your teammates, or is it someone you never think to talk to, but there he is and I might as well see if we can have a conversation?

VDV A lot of times it's teammates, actually, which is kinda weird 'cause you think you wouldn't want to talk to your teammates after you've spent every waking moment with them. A lot of times you do end up speaking with your teammates a lot. I speak with Dave Millar quite often, last year I spoke with Levi quite a bit, Bradley Wiggins, Jens Voigt I had a long conversation with. He's the social butterfly. He wins the prize.

schmalz He chats with everybody, huh?

VDV Everybody, in every language. He's the most nervous, too, so he'd be in mid sentence and all of a sudden he'd just jump away and back into a breakaway or something. "I have to go! Have to make money!"

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/vdv-post-giro

Everybody's favorite racer is Jens Voigt. The more about him I learn the more I like him.

Two crits and a W

2009-05-18T13:34:00.006-06:00

After last weeks death march (aka Bear Mountain) I was happy to get back to what I'm good at: Going in circles really fast!

Saturday morning was AVD's New York Crit, aka a bunch of cones on an old runway at Floyd Bennett Field. It was foggy and raining at FBF, which makes for a sort of other worldly experience. The race itself was pretty boring. Round and round we went. I tried to grab onto a couple breaks, but nothing stuck. About halfway through, three guys went off the front and dangled there. I thought there was no way it was gonna stick, so I just sat there waiting for them to come back. Sure enough, they eventually rolled away and made it count. Then another rider did the same on a prime lap. I must be the worst person in the world on picking breaks. Never have I instigated or bridged to a winning break or even one that stayed away for any decent amount of time.

My sprint felt pretty good and I was able to accelerate away whenever I wanted. In the end I sprinted for second in the field. I jumped a little late and wasn't quite able to catch another rider. Turns outI was relegated two positions for going outside the cones to avoid crashing. It wasn't like I was moving up or anything, but I wasn't going to argue it at a training crit when the results will probably never be posted.

Foggy at FBF

The next morning was Tour de Parc. Last year it was my first crit back after crashing out in '07, so I was really nervous and couldn't move up enough to finish well in the end.

I got to the race a little early and accidentally ended up ruining my warm up by standing in the rain and watching the masters race. I felt a lot better once the race started and I warmed up again. Larry was preaching a group finish and, given my little experience, I believed it. I messed around at the beginning a little and got myself in a break for a couple laps, but we got reeled in and I sat up. Larry got away too, but he didn't go anywhere.

Going into the final lap, Skip(?) from Babylon was still away from a long break, but it was obvious we were gonna catch him before the finish. On the back stretch, his teammate Mark countered when he was caught. Immediately, two guys chased after Mark. Just as they were about to catch him, on the backside of the little hill, someone hesitated and I jumped around everyone. It was about 300 meters from the line and I wasn't sure if I could make it from that far out. I just put my head down and pedaled like mad and I was able to hold the field off for the win!

It was a strange sprint for me, usually I'm out of the saddle, accelerating my whole sprint. This one started downhill, then into a headwind, so it was all sitting down and downshifting. No pictures, I'd like to see the look on my face at the end ("Oh damn that sprint started way too early").

It was great racing with everyone from East End. We had Larry, Chris, Rob, Nick, and George out there. It was nice to have some friendly faces around you in a race.

Bear Mountain

2009-05-11T10:42:00.006-06:00

Bear Mountain is my first real, hard race of the year. I've done three Prospect races and a TT, but Bear is the first show all your cards, leave it all on the road type of race. I think its good training for the Giro di Jersey. The 4 race is four loops in Harriman Park with quite a bit of climbing; mostly short stair steps, but it adds up quick.

I drove up with Craig, who was also doing the cat 4 race (but a different cat 4 race only for people older than 37, wtf?). We got ready and did a little recon of the course. The initial descent was fast and the following climb was tough. The finish looked good, though, and if I could last that long it fit me well.

Well, the race was... hard. I played by strategy well. I was near the front for the first two laps, avoiding getting gapped on the climbs and any of the cat 4 carnage in the turns. The climb was hard for me, but the flats and downhill went well and I could recover again. The third time up the climb, I looked back and saw the field that was previously 100 strong was reduced to 30 riders. Just after that, my legs cramped pretty bad as we crested the hill and the lake came into view. Not get off the bike in agony bad, but every muscle in my legs staged a tiny rebellion. From there I just rolled along and caught a draft from whoever I could stay with. We almost caught back on the cat 4 group at the end of lap 3, but my legs didn't have it on the last little rise to the finish line. I was pretty wrecked by the end of four laps. No matter how much I ate or drank I just couldn't recover. I guess I need a race like that to start out each year.

Props to Craig and Robin. Craig got third place in the older cat 4s and Robin got a top ten in the 3/4 women. I definitely felt the extra weight I carry in that race. I'm not sure if someone who weighs 180 pounds will ever be competitive with that much climbing.

Maybe I need some lighter wheels....

Here I am trying to hide behind the next biggest guy in the race. Amazingly the yellow and black guy from BVF finished at the front.

I think I'm getting dropped here.

Where was I?!??!

2009-04-20T16:16:00.005-06:00

Apparently riding, not blogging.

Lets see, whats happened since I last left you? (And by you, I mean the 5 people who forgot to delete me from their RSS reader) Wrote 3 papers, took two finals, flights to Minneapolis and Los Angelos for Xmas and my own little spring break. Started my last semester of school EVER. Lifted a bunch of weights. Rode some in February and had second thoughts about this bicycle riding/racing thing. Rode a lot in March and decided biking is pretty awesome when it isn't 30 degrees out. Looked for jobs in the worst job market in 25 years (or so I'm told). Built up an ugly, ugly TT bike (which is still tons of fun to ride). Entered a few of races and didn't do to great in them, but had lots of fun and didn't do to bad either.

So in the spirit of the first post of the new year (albeit 5 months in) here's my big goal for 2009: Upgrade to a 3. Its sort of a funny goal, because it could eliminate me from participating in a few races. The real goal is go take part in harder, longer cat 3 (and 123) races and get in better shape. Anyway, in order to upgrade, I need to podium a few times. In order to podium, I need to do shorter, faster races that favor me, which means lots of Prospect Park races.

Olympic dream?

2008-12-07T14:57:00.002-07:00

Every cyclist, at one point or another, dreams unfounded dreams of winning the Tour, out-sprinting Boonen or winning olympic gold. I know I have. At Mines, I knew a guy who fell so in love with the idea of cycling glory that he dropped out of school, started riding his bike every day and got a job at a bike shop. I'm not sure if he made it, but you must admire his resolve. The hope of going pro drives hundreds of otherwise well intentioned people to give up on a career and follow the NRC races around the country, hoping that they'll get the chance to make 25 grand next year and share living space with a half-dozen other sweaty athletes.

Well, two years ago ESPN granted such a wish to Kathryn Bertine. They charged her with finding a way to get into the olympics and writing about it. You can read about her exploits here. Things get interesting around parts 7, 8, and 9, where she enters her first qualifying race.

-----------------------------------

It snowed for the first time last night, so no riding for me today.

Top Secret Weapon

2008-11-30T12:47:00.003-07:00

I didn't go riding this morning; I was terrified of the cold rain rolling in. Too bad I didn't get to try out my new toy.

A lanky guy like me needs long cranks (or at least thats the idea)

Slowtwitch sez:

2008-11-18T12:44:00.001-07:00

While triathletes are three-sporters, we resemble what the baseball world calls a one-tool athlete: Triathletes can hit with power. Triathletes are the DHers of the cycling milieu. No finesse, all swat. We can't corner, ride a cadence, sprint, or descend. Tactically, we belong in special ed.

But if you put us on a flat, straight road and you don't endanger anyone else's life by situating us proximate to—within 30 feet or so—the innocent, we can go like heck.

Winterpokal

2008-11-16T11:11:00.002-07:00

Craig, Percy and I are on a 'Winterpokal' team, so take a look and track how I'm doing. So far, we're doing OK.

Kinda sorta blog hiatus

2008-11-02T17:30:00.004-07:00

In case you haven't noticed, its the off season and I don't have much to write about. I was running for a while, but my ankle started acting up. I've been seeing a physical therapist the last couple weeks and he's giving me some good stuff to loosen it up. Hopefully next time I try out running, I'll have a little less pain to deal with.

This week I went on the first Trevor ride. I haven't been in my best shape lately, so I started 15 minutes early with the B group. A couple of bad luck flats later and we were caught by the A group fairly early in the route. I latched on as best I could, but I definitely didn't have the legs to mix it up with them. We turned southeast South River Road and Jeff and Dennis amped it up to a ridiculous pace. That combined with a slight tailwind was enough for me and I was ejected out the back. Percy was kind enough to drag my sorry ass home, otherwise I may still be out in Manorville. Tboughts had some wicked awesome french toast waiting for me when I got back.

It looks like the blog won't see many updates for the next couple months. I promise I'll start updating more in 2009 when another season of races come around.

In the spirit of the season

2008-10-20T12:43:00.002-06:00

73%
You try.

First time I've been interested in politics all year

2008-10-17T15:16:00.003-06:00

Seriously funny.

2008-10-15T20:54:00.004-06:00

I have such hate for Office 2007. I wanted to like it, I swear. I love new toys, new features, pretty much anything new, but 2007 makes the simpliest tasks nearly impossible. 2003 here I come...

2008-10-08T21:17:00.001-06:00

I wish I knew how to quit you

SUNY Stonybrook HPV 2009!

THIEVES!

2008-10-03T12:22:00.002-06:00

Anyone see the new movie 'Flash of Genius'? Well I'm living it (or more accurately teammates Brett and Derek are living it).

Trek Bikes has stolen our genius design (page 4)! I've going to sue the greedy bicycle giant for intellectual property infringement!

Har Har Har...

Actually, our design never
worked, so its hard to take offense. Its really cool, though, that someone is making the belt drive concept work.

HPV- Battle Mountain

2008-10-01T14:34:00.002-06:00

Out of negligence or indifference I totally missed the WHPSC at Battle Mountain, the annual high speed slug fest in the Nevada plateau. Usually its held a little later in the year and, to tell the truth, its been so anticlimactic lately that it was pushed to the back of my mind.

Recently, it looked like Sam's thundering 2002 run of 81 MPH would go unbeaten. Legendary highway SR305 has been deteriorating over the years and interest in repaving a rarely used highway in perfectly serviceable condition is pretty low. Even worse, participation has waned in recent years. All the big players had given it their best and none could best Sam, who has become fairly dominant in the small world of recumbent racing. It looked like this was there year he would back into the DeciMach prize, not by going 132 kph, but by being the only one get close.

Well, how wrong I was. Plans are in place to repave 305 (ensuring at least the possibility of a future for high speed runs). Participation was up this year and a fair number of newcomers showed up. My old foe Cal Poly showed up with not one, but two bikes to test out. Best of all, Sam (despite retiring from full time racing a while ago) pulled out multiple 80+ mph runs and a prize winning run of 82 and change. Genius Matt Weaver didn't show and there wasn't the international showing there has been, but apparently there is some future for the race.

More here

OOPs

2008-09-18T11:25:00.000-06:00

Running

2008-09-12T12:41:00.003-06:00

Since bike races are pretty much over for the year, I've started running a bit again. No marathons this year, but maybe a 5k. Yesterday I did some track workouts for the first time since maybe 8th grade. And it hurt!
___________________________________________

Have you ever looked at the times reported by the UPS guys? They work some crazy hours (and this is coming from a grad student!)

12 PM
7 PM
10 PM
1 AM
5 AM
11 AM

They have pretty much the whole day accounted for.

Lance

2008-09-09T20:57:00.002-06:00

Maybe not?

Hopefully he'll still be entertaining.

5-0, less 30

2008-09-02T09:16:00.005-06:00

Well, its been a week since I did the 5-0, so I figured I'd better publish this post.

I've done this race twice before and both times its kicked my ass. Baldy and I drove up to Spearfish at 7am. We didn't get a chance to warm up much, but its a long race so I wasn't too worried. During the four wheeler leadout, I surfed my way to the front and had a great spot going into the climb to Tinton trail. I lost a little bit on the climb, but that was fine. I just wanted a good spot going into the singletrack (its better to get passed than have to do the passing I say). I hit Tinton and starting railing the singletrack. Its a sweet trail and I was really enjoying myself, but my heart rate wouldn't come down (was it the lack of a warmup?). Half an hour into the race and I'm still wheezing for air, so I stopped and took a quick breather. Ten minutes later, I'm still not recovering and really starting to bobble the trail on my rental bike, so I walked a little bit and had a Gu and got passed by a dozen racers. After riding for another ten minutes I stopped and blew some green stuff out my nose (which did really help the breathing); something wasn't right. Another ten minutes and I stopped and checked my blood sugar. 53.

Hmmmm. That explains a little. I stopped and ate a little and drank about a quart of sports drink and sat down for a bit. Once I felt a bit more human I limped into aid station 1 and ate a little bit of everything they had. I waited around a little and started to feel better so when Baldwin rolled up, I decided to keep going with him.

At this point I was over a half hour off my goal time with a little under 40 miles to go, so I decided to take it easy and enjoy the rest of the ride. I started feeling better after the first aid station. A little before the second aid station, I started going fast. I wasn't pushing myself so much as I was really getting in a good groove on the trail.

After the second aid station, Baldy and I descended down into this creek valley with some real quick and twisty trails along the side of a hill. I was having a real blast, punching it up each short roller and flying down the back. I guess I was going a little too fast. Over the top of one hill, I bumped my front wheel and did a sort of nose wheelie down the hill. At the bottom I was going way to fast and ran into a fallen tree. When I picked myself up I found my front was too bent to roll through the front rim brake. I decided to throw in the towel. Maybe I could have fixed the wheel with a lot of trouble, but after all my bad luck I figured I'd had enough.

I walked 20 minutes down to Iron Creek Lake and begged a ride back into town. At least I got my t shirt.
Baldy finished in a little over six hours. He hadn't been riding much this year, so it was quite a suffer fest for him. The winner was a ringer from CO on the Trek factory team. He obliterated the course record by 20 minutes. Kerkove finished first in his age category with a crazy HR profile. I don't know how its possible to hold over 170 bpm for 4 hours.

So the score so far is Dakota 50: 3, Karl: 0.

I could use a million different excuses. I had a head cold going into the race. I was riding a rental bike. I didn't bolus right the morning of. My training didn't come together right in August. Whatever it is, I just never seem to have it on Labor day in Spearfish. Maybe sometime I'll get it right.

Dakota 5 0

2008-08-28T09:02:00.003-06:00

Its on!

I'm hanging out in the Black Hills, fully prepped. Got a bike, sent in my registration, camelbak's waiting patiently... I can't wait.

Who's gonna take it this year? Jeff Kerkove is in town and he wants it. I think it will be the first time a national guy in his prime has lined up, so he's gotta be the favorite. Otherwise, I think a local has to be the underdog. I'm picking old man Jon Nelson, since he's been so close so many times and he has such a badass last name.

As for me? I'm just trying to finish in one piece. Training has fallen apart with the last month of visitors, deadlines, moving and now vacations. Earlier in the summer I was in great shape so I'm just hoping some of that finds its way into my legs for sunday. For now I'm not relaxing at grandmas and enjoying the time off. Chris pushed me into the creek last night, so don't go thinking my life is too great just yet.

Olympics

2008-08-19T21:44:00.002-06:00

I've been obsessing a little more than usual over the Olympics this year. Maybe its because you can live stream just about any event on the web (sans announcing). Has anyone else discovered http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/index.html?

------------------------------------------------------

Does anyone in Rapid City have a mountain bike big enough for a long legged 6'4" which I could borrow Aug 31?

singletrack discovered

2008-08-16T17:56:00.003-06:00

I did some mtbing today. I went to these trails right out my back door. I'd ridden there before, but just recently C.L.I.M.B. mapped out the trail and I realized I'd missed a huge section. Turned out it took me three hours of riding to do one lap. Epic! Of course, I'm moving in a week, but not to far away so I'll definitely ride them again.

I really like my mountain bike when I'm just riding. Its comfortable and unflappable. In the two races I've done this year, unfortunately, its felt soft and slow. I'd really like to avoid getting a new race bike in the future, so I hope some faster tires might help.

A whole new level of nutrition

2008-08-15T20:00:00.002-06:00

Errrr.....

Its nice to see an athlete who likes to eat. I always read those Bicycling interviews of what racers eat for breakfast and the answers are "organic granola with half a banana and some tofu". Unlike those hippies, Phelps likes his food.

Busy Busy

2008-08-13T19:10:00.003-06:00

Eppen's bored at work, so I need to write something entertaining. It seems like everyone runs out of bloggin juice this time of year. I think its hard to keep interested in something (even as awesome as cycling) all year long.

Work at school finally picked up and the Jago's were in town; I've spent the last week running all over the place. They'd never to NY before, so there was a lot of sight seeing involved.

We rode the Staten Island Ferry to see Ms Liberty

We walked through Times Square

... and got rained on in Times Square.

The next day I went to another Kreb race. I wasn't sure how my legs would feel after two days of zero biking and one day of walking all over the city, but it was worth a shot. Impending rain limited the field size, but all the big guns showed up anyway. Sure enough, attacks opened up after a few laps. Finally, everyone slowed a bit and Joe Z started going hard. I kicked to follow him and we got separation. He pulled like a horse for a whole lap then waved me through. I kept it going a half mile and then he took over again. When I pulled through again, I could tell I didn't have it. I sat on his wheel, taking soft pulls and trying to recover enough to make it to the end, but he dropped me after a few laps. As soon as the chase group caught me, there was a counter that I couldn't follow. Now it was me a half dozen guys and I knew we weren't going to catch the leaders. We rode out the remainder of the race like that. Why don't my legs like it when I take the day before a race off?

The next day we went to the beach, which was a blast. I've only been twice now this summer and its something I ought to do more.

Kreb 8/1 Race

2008-08-01T18:58:00.003-06:00

Last weeks race was kinda boring, so I didn't have anything to write about. This week all the big guns showed up, so I knew something would happen. It's been a pretty hard week, but my legs felt good and I was in a real mood to race. There were a few attacks and Zaverdas Sr took the first prime, but nothing really happened until we started lapping the B's. Brian went to the front and drilled it. I hung onto his wheel and when I looked back we were clear. It was a good mix in the break: Charlie, me, the brothers Wolff, Zaverdas Jr, and some other strong guys. If we worked together, there would be enough people blocking for us to stay away. Brian was pulling through like a madman. I couldn't tell if he was intentionally turning the screws or if he just wanted to push the pace, but every time he pulled through I was on the rivet. As we tried to stay away, the pace kept getting higher and higher and I felt like i was ready to....

*pop* *hissss* *wobble wobble wobble* My tire blew before I could find out how far I'd make it.

Funny thing is, I knew this tire was in rough shape and I was gonna replace it after this race. Oh well. The bitch of it was, I was on the far side of the course from my spare wheel, so it took more than my one free lap to go get it.

Once I got the new wheel, I jumped in with the chase groupe. At this point it was pretty obvious the break was gonna stick, so everyone was taking it (relatively) easy. I took some pulls to have a little fun and get a workout in.

In the end, the break was shelled down to four riders. Charlie took the sprint over Brian, which is pretty cool.

Vacation

2008-07-25T10:52:00.003-06:00

....from blogging.

Hmmmm, its been a long time since NYCMTB. The week after that I didn't do any bike riding, since I'd raced like a zillion times that month and I just didn't want to look at a bicycle anymore. The next week I got back on my bike and did some hard intervals, but then the week after that I decided hard intervals just aren't that fun so I rode easier.

Somewhere in there I did a Friday points race, which was kinda fun even though I didn't do especially well. I did have a pretty sweet counter. Skip (I think) was drilling it, trying to make a split before the first sprint. I was sitting somewhere around fourth wheel when he realized he wasn't losing anyone and sat up. Everyone moved out of the way in front of me so I took the opening and almost instantaneously had a big gap. It was one of those little aspects of bike racing that isn't a big deal but is a lot of fun.

Tonight is another Kreb race. I think I'm gonna spend my time following wheels and saving matches.

I think I fixed the comments section so you can anonymously heckle me.

NYCMTB Highbridge

2008-07-07T17:21:00.004-06:00

This weeks race in the city was in stark contrast to last week. It was pretty much everything you'd expect from a mountain bike race in a park in Harlem. A long skinny loop with a lot of stairs and pavement; slick rock gardens put in wherever they'd fit to slow us down and swooping switchbacks to make use of every square foot of dirt. And lots of glass. Plenty of people were in the park and on the course, but I wouldn't exactly call them spectators (on the first climb we passed two guys smoking up). Tboughts and I both rode three laps in sport category.

At the start, I took a quick lead up the first climb. The singletrack was tough and with my rusty mountain biking I was caught. The guy who caught me, Aaron, and I would trade places the first two laps. I would motor away on the wide open sections, but he had ridden the trails a dozen times before and would rail the tight turns. I could ride quite a bit faster watching his lines and I was learning how to ride the trail as I followed him.

I had a small lead going into the final singletrack of the second lap. As Aaron crept up on me, my front tire felt squirmy and I realized it was slowly losing air. Well, I thought, if I can hold onto this lead to the start/finish, I can get some air to get me through the third lap. As soon as he made contact a stick got jammed in my derailleur and I had to stop to yank it out. I jumped back on my bike but he was gone.

At the start of the third lap I grabbed a pump and enough air to get me through the race. Aaron had a good gap, but I put in a big effort to reel him in on the open section. I passed him on the last open climb and at the same time lapped a couple riders, hoping they would slow Aaron down in the singletrack.

I rode the singletrack smoothly my last time through. I was holding a pretty good lead, but then in a fit of deja vu, my rear tire started losing air. Of course, as Aaron caught me, my chain (still finicky from the incident with the stick) got jammed in my frame and I had to stop. "I feel bad..... but not too bad...", I heard as he passed me. So a win still eludes me this year. It sucks to have so many mechanicals, but the NYCMTB guys advertised a lot of rocks and glass, so I can't be too surprised. At least as a consolation prize, they gave me a free tube to limp home on.

Tboughts won her race and got a whole bunch of schwag for it. She was the only woman who entered, so it was an easy win, but she beat a few guys too, so good job.

Spain!

2008-07-03T11:59:00.002-06:00

Its a good year to be a Spanish sports fan. Their soccer team just won Euro '08, their first Euro win in like a zillion years. Contador won a very exciting Giro and looks poised to dominate his native Vuelta. Rafael Nadal has stepped it up a notch this yeah and had only lost one set in 5 rounds at Wimbledon (how's that for a jinx?). Now if only Fernando Alonso could pull himself out of the dredges of F1.

another weekend of races

2008-06-28T18:53:00.005-06:00

Lou Maltese Memorial: My first central park race. 70 of us did 36 miles in the park early Saturday morning. I didn't know anybody else in the race, so I had to figure out how to do it on my own. That meant trying to get a gap early in the race. After a few attacks, I found myself away on the back side of Harlem Hill with two other guys. We were working well together for a lap when a group of 6 bridged. Great! An even bigger group to work with, I thought, even though the field was chasing us hard. The problem was, no one wanted to pull through, so we were caught in just a few minutes. I don't get it, if you didn't want to work, why go off the front? It was like they were blocking their own breakaway.

Anyway, the race came down to the sprint. I was feeling good, but the field was huge and I didn't have anyone to work with. People were blowing up left and right on the front and drifting through the pack, so choosing a good wheel was hard. In the end I chose the wrong side and the winning move came from two Metro guys on the right side while I was sitting on the left. I finished 8th, which I was pretty happy about. If I had a teammate to work with, I think I could have used a similar leadout for a good chance at the win.

Who's that guy with his head down?

Its me!

Chris and I after the race.

The next day we loaded up to go to Tboughts's mountain bike race out in New Jersey. It was her first race since she upgraded to sport and also the biggest race on the H2H calendar. Tboughts was trying to keep her podium streak alive from the beginner category, but the longer distance was a bit much for her and she finished mid pack. Mountain biking is tough! As a consolation prize, I lost the keys to the car and made her wait around in the heat as I retraced my steps to find them.

Later that day, I got 2nd place in the Northeast Crit Championship 4/5 race. It was a small field due to some storms, but the guys who bothered to show up were pretty cool to race against. Other than that, Mom always said if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. So I won't.

Giro di Jersey: Stage 3

2008-06-23T07:12:00.002-06:00

4:30 AM came far too early for the 7 AM start. After dragging my ass out of bed and drinking more coffee than I've had in a long time, we trucked down to Princeton with plenty of time before the start. The race was a 2.5 mile circuit with two hills to grind riders out over 8 laps. I felt good at the start. Everyone was jockeying for position and the road was narrow, but I held a good spot toward the front and looked for any opportunities. A racer went off the front on the first lap and would stay away for most of the race. The big teams kept the pace high in order to keep Jacky Durand in sight, but nobody tried to bridge so it wasn't a big deal. The pace got higher and higher until the third to last lap when we sprinted around the entire course as racers were spat out the back. It was all I could do to hold on and even when they caught the break and the pace let up, I was spent. I stayed with the group the rest of the race, but when the sprint started I didn't have anything and went backwards for 37th place.

It was a really great weekend. I can't say enough about how well run the race was. Everything was timely and in order when often race directors are scrambling at the last minute to get things in order. The courses were excellent and I can't wait to race again next year. Apparently the race raised over $10,000 for charities, too. Hopefully the neighborhood enjoyed the race as much as we did and there will be a 2009 Giro di Jersey.

Giro di Jersey: Stage 2

2008-06-21T15:46:00.003-06:00

I started the day by learning I got 3rd from last in the time trial (10th if you count the DNF's). Oh well, onward and upward....

The race course was five times around an 11 mile loop that followed a creek to a nice long hill with a false flat part way up and a nice kick right at the end. Next came a long, fast downhill to the start/finish. The first time up the hill I was really excited about the race. I thought the race would blow apart on the hill and hopefully I could get in a small group that would better my chances at the finish. The really cool feature of this race was no yellow line rule. I've never done a road race this long where we could use the entire road and it was pretty PRO to have them shut down the neighborhood for us.

They started us with a 5 mile neutral leadout to a narrow bridge. I understand the concern about sending 75+ racers barreling into a 10 foot wide bridge, but the rollout didn't help much and it shorted an already short race. Alright, enough whining. I spent most of the race at the back of the lead group, watching to see if any of the breakaways would stick. Everything would be brought back and I knew the only place to get away would be the hill. The first time up, I stayed toward the front and watched the action. The field strung out and I could see that there was an opportunity to attack over the top and hopefully get a big enough gap to stay away. The second time up I really drilled it on the last steep section and kept the steam on over the top, hoping someone would follow. Well, everyone followed but nobody helped. Everything came back together on the downhill and I didn't accomplish much.

So it would be the rest of the race. I drilled it a couple more times on the hill, but nothing happened. Others did the same and got the same result. On the final lap it was obvious to everyone there would be 50 guys coming into the same finish. Everyone tentatively approached the last climb. A few guys shot ahead, but we all entered the downhill together. I was feeling good, but didn't want to jockey for position at 50 mph, so I didn't have good position coming into the sprint. I ended up in the top thirty, I think.

I really enjoyed the race. It was a fantastic course and really well run. I've never done a race this big before and to feel strong and put in some good moves was great. Sometimes a race doesn't play out the way you need it too and that's fine. My only regret is not enlisting the GC leader to help set up a breakaway that would help us both. Maybe in the future I'll have the confidence to be at the front when I need to. Tomorrow is the final circuit race, so I've got one more chance to drill it and make something happen.

Afterward Tboughts and I went down to Princeton and saw the university. Its a beautiful campus, quite a bit different from SDSMT and Stony Brook.

Giro di Jersey: Stage 1

2008-06-20T16:32:00.002-06:00

Ick.

I don't like TT's anyway. I'm not especially good at them, since I don't have the practice or equipment for it. Usually I go out way to hard and then pop about 3 miles in. Today I managed to get lost on the way there and show up an hour late. After warming up for about thirty seconds, I rolled through the start almost 2 minutes after my start time. Since I had no warm up, I popped even earlier and it was over from there. I'm pretty sure I had one of the worst times for the day. The good news is my legs felt pretty good despite my terrible planning and now I'll have no GC position to defend and I can go all out tomorrow. Road races are usually my forte, so I'm expecting big(ger) things tomorrow.

Kreb race #1

2008-06-14T13:16:00.002-06:00

I showed up for the first Kreb race nice and early, since it was my first race out at Riverhead. These go on all summer at the community college campus, so a lot of people have them pretty well figured out. After some convincing from a couple of other racers, I entered the A race (35ish miles), figuring at the very least I'd get a good workout in. The course is round and flat, so the races will be fast, for sure.

A lap in I decided to take a big pull and almost immediately found myself off the front. I was joined by a Carl Hart rider and a fellow East Ender, then a lap later by another Carl Harter. We worked pretty well together, but the pack was right behind us; they weren't going to let the first move of the day get away. Just when I was thinking about dropping off and saving my energy, they rang the bell for a prime. We came around the last turn and Rob from Carl Hart took off. I stuck on his wheel and came around him easily to cross the line first.

That pretty much blew apart the break and we all sat up and waited for the field. They came screaming by and I dug down and grabbed the tail end of the group. Sometime between getting caught and being able to breath normally again, Brian from Carl Hart counterattacked and got a really good gap. I never even saw him go, just that when I looked up he wasn't in the group and I knew he wasn't off the back. Apparently an East Ender went with him (who I didn't see either). The rest of the group put on chase, but from then on Carl Hart made the race a clinic on blocking. It seemed like they were always sitting 2nd and 4th wheel and would only pull through at an easy pace. It totally disrupted the chase and the break stayed out of sight for the rest of the race. I did some work, but I wasn't particularly effective and it was quickly becoming apparent we were racing for third.

Since they had divided the EETC riders into 3 teams, the race came to a four way sprint. The No Arm Band team started leading out with aboug 1 km to go and I grabbed the wheel of their last rider. At 300m I kicked and moved into first. With 50m to go I started fading and felt riders coming up on either side of me. At 5 to go I threw my bike and held them off for the field sprint. Brian won the whole race and Bob from Carl Hart got 4th, so I was part of a Carl Hart sandwich. The sprint worked out really well for me. If I'd needed to go any earlier, I wouldn't have held onto it. It was nice to have a good race after some pretty mediocre races so far this year.

-----------

Today I figured out what pedal washers are for. Whenever I get pedal washers, I usually don't install them in some tiny attempt to reduce q-factor. Well my cranks have been creaking like angry dogs lately and I couldn't figure out why. I finally tried installing the pedal washers and it immediately quieted them up. Now I understand.

Thats not the right direction-- Lewis Morris Challenge

2008-06-13T18:21:00.001-06:00

I wanted to post this a while ago, but results were just released today.

June 1: Tboughts, MelB and I headed down to Morristown, NJ for the third stop on the H2H race calendar. Tboughts did the beginner race and I lined up for the sport race, which was 17 miles long. I haven't been training for mountain biking and really only have a half dozen hours on the mountain bike this year, but since I've been having trouble holding an all out, anaerobic effort, I thought there was no better way to get a workout than a long hard mountain bike race.

On the starting line, I was to the right of a guy wearing a Colvita-Sutter kit. Whenever you see someone like that at a race, you need to assume its just a fanboy who ponied up for a replica jersey and shorts, since the pro's rarely make an appearance at anything lacking an 'NRC' designation. Little did I know...

My age group was the second wave, singlespeeders started a minute ahead of us. '3...2...1...GO!' We were off. Someone burst through for the hole shot, but I was 4th wheel into the trail. The course was awesome. A good grinding climb to separate everyone at the beginning with some tricky roots and rocks to keep you honest and fast, rolling trail through the rest of the course. Almost no double track or open trail through the whole thing.

Going up the first climb, Colvita dude pulled into the front and I passed my way up to his wheel. He was killing it up the climb, but I was able to hang tough and I figured he'd have to let up sometime. I made it with him over the top and coasted down the first hill pretty easily. On the second climb we caught some singlespeeders and he had to let up a bit, but once we got to the top he was able to pass and poured it on. I got caught up passing and he had a gap. I tried to catch him on the next decent, but without his wheel as a carrot, I couldn't keep a high enough pace. Nevertheless I was feeling alright and kept chasing. I'd spin up the climbs and rocket down the descents. I was flying down the hills and no one could descend with me.

Coming out of the first lap some spectators told me there was only 20 seconds to Colvita boy and with 3rd place right on my wheel, I thought we might be able to catch him if he bonked or had a mechanical. Going into the first climb of the second lap, 3rd place passed me and I figured I'd let him take over pacing up the climb. Then something popped in me and I watched him pedal away. I couldn't chase anymore and I had to go my own speed and hope I could hold off the rest of the racers. 4th place caught me pretty quickly, but I was able to go back and forth with him the rest of the lap and thought I could get a top five and maybe catch a second wind for a top three.

Climbing up the beginning of the third and final lap, I started to really bonk hard and kept downshifting and downshifting until I realized my granny wasn't slow enough. Finally I got off my bike, took a big drink of water and watched a train of riders go by me. That was how it was for the rest of the lap, pedaling softly and getting off to let riders by or walk up hills. I couldn't ever go fast down the descents, my arms felt too weak to support me. In the end I dropped to 18th in my age group and who knows how far back overall.

I've never bonked that hard in that short a time before. Sure I've run out of gas before, but never so fast and so badly. The funny thing is everything seemed to be going fine. My blood sugars checked alright and didn't feel dehydrated or in need of food. I guess it just happens sometimes and I'll hope it makes me a little faster later on. All in all it was a good workout and I was really happy to be the last person to get dropped by Colvita boy. I'll try to get plenty of rest and maybe this won't happen in the future. I never figured out who Colvita boy was. You can't race expert if you don't buy a yearly license (sport and beginner can be raced on one day liscenses), so I guess he must have figured a day of racing wasn't worth $60. I think an expert license should come with a Cat 1, the same way a Cross cat 3 comes with a Pro or Cat 1 license.

*EDIT* I guess he was Ryan Bodge, all around fast guy on the Colvita Sutter U23 developement team.

Tboughts did really well in her first mountain bike race ever. She was the second place woman in her class and had the first place racer in her sights until her chain fell off and she lost a minute putting it back on. Maybe with a better front derailleur and a few more workouts, she can win her next one.

NVGP Time

2008-06-11T09:08:00.004-06:00

The pro's are in town and the Brothers know who wants what....

Predictions:
Doug Swanson gets at top ten at the time trial (pretty sure thing since he's done well the last couple years).

Eric Marcotte sprints for a top ten in a crit (sprinting with the pros is hard).

Mike Woell has the top overall place for a local amateur (a bit of a stretch, maybe, but he sure is tenacious).

quick thoughts

2008-06-04T07:02:00.003-06:00

SDSMT got 4th and 6th in Baja SAE this year. Stony Brook got 8th. There were 116 other teams that entered.

I got a haircut at one of those old school barbershops yesterday. It was filled with crusty guys 2 or 3 times my age who talked about horse racing and how things used to be better half a century ago. Actually, most of the things they said would be inappropriate to write about. I love that places like that still exist.

There aren't any American sprinters. The only one in Europe I can think of is Fred Rodrigez. I think we need a cultural shift to encourage more cyclists to specialize in sprinting; schools should try to mimic the Italians and focus on fashion, soccer and a general lack of work ethic.

The sidewalk outside my apartment is being redone. It wasn't in bad shape, but I'm always happy when people don't let the area I live in get run down. What I don't like is when they work. The last two days they've shown up at 6:30 and worked until 10. What they do the rest of the day? I don't know. Why don't construction workers operate on a normal schedule?

Pet Peeve.

2008-05-29T16:14:00.003-06:00

I'm ticked off at SRAM. Their 2007 Rival crank requires a 16mm wrench for the self extracting bolt. Who has a 16mm allen wrench laying around? Where can you buy one? (not my local Ace hardware) I know this is the type of thing someone should only have to do once, but I'm chasing down a creak and there's no way for me to take apart the crank bolts. It seems really simple to design parts with commonly sized bolts, but instead I end up needing a 16mm allen wrench and a T-20 Torx wrench. WTF?

Computer's on the fritz

2008-05-28T11:40:00.003-06:00

I tried installing Vista and it made a huge mess. Not that I think Vista did me in, moreso the old pile of junk was in such a brittle state that something as simple as switching hard drives and operating systems sent the whole thing swirling down the drain. Hopefully I'll get it up and running soon.

My cycling has been in a similar state. Since finals week I've been having trouble putting it on high. I can putz around just fine, but when I try to put in a hard, anaerobic effort, nothing comes out. If it doesn't change soon, I'll have to change the name of this blog to 'the little ring' or 'a 42 tooth chainring is big enough for me, thanks'. In the mean time, I'll just rest and eat.

Ma and Pa came out to visit last weekend. They wore me out running around LI and Manhatten, but we all had a good time.

Tour de Parc

2008-05-18T12:18:00.002-06:00

Not much to say, really. The course was alright, nice and smooth with one tight corner and a small hill. Nobody caused a huge pileup (although maybe it would have helped if it was behind me). Everybody stayed together for the whole race. I had trouble moving around in the rather large pack. I wasn't strong enough to fight the wind by myself and I wasn't clever enough to pick my way through a tight pack, so I ended up sitting in and finishing in the middle. The phone was acting up too, so the pictures look a little goofy. Next time we'll have to bring the real camera. Larry(?) got forthish in the sprint, so the team did OK. The Babylon guys are really organized, I wonder how much riding they do together.

Finals week

2008-05-16T20:53:00.002-06:00

I've been meaning to update all week with thoughts I've had, unfortunately I haven't.

Its been a rough week. I feel like I've gone 15 rounds with that guy Bonesaw from the first Spiderman movie, except I don't have superpowers from a radioactive spider. I want my mommy...

Early Birds

2008-05-11T16:13:00.008-06:00

Tboughts went into New Jersey today to see her mom, so I went on the Early Birds.

It was a beautiful sunny day, mostly in the 60's and 70's. Spring series races are over, so a bunch of fast guys showed up and threw down. We were flying for most of the ride and I managed to average over 20mph with 40(!) of them solo. At one point as we cruised down the rolling hills of highway 51, I realized I had run out of gears and couldn't go any faster. We were pace lining at 35 mph!

05/11/2008 Early Birds
Find more Bike Rides in Manorville, New York

It went pretty well. My legs felt good and I'm writing off last weekend to bad luck.

(Thanks for the pic, Percy)

I had ridden 50 miles by 9:15.
(Trevor wonders why the heck that kid is pointing his cell phone at a clock)

Next up is Tour de Parc for me and Tymor Park Challenge for Tboughts.

Empire State Games Qualifier

2008-05-04T10:20:00.003-06:00

... didn't go so well.

I was really psyched to race again. The ESG's are sorta the amateur state championships. You need to qualify and make your regional regional team in order to race in the final omnium in July. The qualifiers are a 50k points race (today) and a 10 mile TT in June. Four racers are taken from the points race and 6 are taken from the TT.

I'm not interested in the finals, but the points race was free, so I thought I'd give it a shot. Things didn't go great. I think I had a little too much breakfast in my stomach and was still a little full when I went to the starting line. I was able to keep up with the leaders and make what turned out to be the final break. After a few sprints, though, I was pretty queasy and having trouble holding on. I dropped back to the first chase group, but that didn't help so I dropped out all together. I was pretty happy with things otherwise, I mean, I could have used more power, but thats always true. I guess I got what I paid for.

Next race is Tour de Parc, so I'll work to make that one go better.

Longest 25 mile ride ever...

2008-04-26T16:07:00.003-06:00

Last set of SMSP intervals today. I went to the biggest hill in the area and went up and down a dozen times. Port Jeff Hill Repeats
Find more Bike Rides in Port Jefferson, New York It was a nice day down at Port Jeff, everyone was outside shopping while I suffered. This sez I was hitting 500 watts during each interval, take it at what you will. Now its time to rest up!

Wheels

2008-04-22T18:06:00.000-06:00

What did you do this weekend? I built some wheels, and they're good. This is my first try building some higher end wheels, usually its just assembling and tensioning the cheaper, easier stuff. Lets hope they hold together well.

Hubs: Real Designs OEM
Rims: IRD Cadence Aero Nio30
Spokes: Sapim CX- Ray 20/24

Built up around 1435g. I just FEEL faster on them! :p

Nothing to report...

2008-04-19T20:56:00.002-06:00

Meghan and Evan came to visit on Friday. They're moving to the city soon, so they were in town checking it out. We showed them campus and had lunch at Pita Z. True to its name, greek food was available and Tboughts had a pita overflowing with goodness.

After some intervals, it was off to see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. I really enjoyed it, the movie has more honest beauty than anything I've seen in a long time.

Not much to say about biking lately. SMSP intervals are going really well, but its all basically the same: Get on bike, push really big gear, rest a while, push big gear again, repeat. I can't wait to race next month. The weather is getting really nice and its tempting to go hit up some group rides.

More Intervals.

2008-04-14T20:54:00.003-06:00

This month is SMSP intervals. Short and hard. They're set up in blocks to really wear you down, so by the last interval on the last day it feels like you'll never move your legs again.

I always like SMSP's because the volume is way low. They're super easy to fit into my schedule and since most of them are on the trainer, I don't waste time finding a good road to ride on.

Lately I've been sleeping a lot. It seems like 8-9 hours a night and I'm still tired. I know its just cuz I'm working hard in the hectic grad student life, but a little bit of me is always worried that I've got some strange disease that goes undiagnosed like Tristan Schouten, Jason McCartney or Gunn Rita Dahle. In the end I know I'm fine, though, since I probably worry more about my health than anyone my age (Tboughts sez I'm a hypochondriac).

Wow

2008-04-10T15:25:00.002-06:00

I guess its spring

N E R D

2008-04-10T10:00:00.003-06:00

Lately there have been a few new shows about the lives of high end science geeks(Chuck, The Big Bang Theory, Numb3rs, etc). As someone involved in the scientific community who is a little 'nerdy', I have a particular interest in these shows. As it turns out they all follow the same premise: A main character (or characters) finds themself in a unique situation due to being a highly intelligent person, but the drama is the same that every 'normal' person experiences every day.

Not that I'm really surprised, but I'm still a little disappointed in these shows. I would hope that someone would want to write a show about smart people that wasn't targeting the lowest common denominator. People in academia lead pretty interesting lives and I think you could make a pretty interesting show out of it. Maybe you'd alienate quite a few people, but I would guess there are quite a few people who have the backround in first year calculus, physics, chemistry and biology who would really enjoy a smart, scientific show. Seems like a job for David Cohen and HBO (or maybe theres already a show like this I haven't discovered?).

Racin'

2008-04-06T19:01:00.002-06:00

I did the cat 3/4 race of the NYC Spring Series. Tboughts decided to truck out to Floyd Bennett Field bright and early with me, I'm not sure why, I guess she's a little masochistic. The course was this big, flat, 2.3 mile loop at an old airfield. The wind was whipping off the ocean which created a little more strategy. My plan was to stay out of trouble and test my fitness, like I said yesterday.

I followed my same old strategy: fight for a clean wheel until the race sorts out, sit at the back until race is starting to wind down and move to the front in order to make a winning move. (As a side note, back in MN the wheat would separate from the chafe when hammering into a strong crosswind or something, here its when someone eats it in front of you at 25 mph and you need to drill it back to the leaders. Scary.) I felt really good the whole race, I could follow the moves and jump off the front whenever I wanted. I didn't always make the smart move, but that comes with the beginning of any season. It makes me excited for more racing in May.

In the end, a break got away with 4ish laps to go and it stuck. My new teammate Owen got in it and managed to get second. On the last lap I spent a little to much time in the wind and sprinted for 15th or something. The result wasn't as good as I felt, but it was a great day nonetheless. Despite the good time, I'm not sure if its worth $10 gas, $30 race fees and a 4 am wake up call this early in the year, so I'll prolly lay off any more races for the next month.

mountain biking

2008-04-05T17:29:00.004-06:00

Today, Tboughts and I checked out a trail just down the road from school. It was good to go mountain biking again, just the second time this season for me. It was a fun, twisty trail tucked away in a really busy part of town, so we both thought it was a good find. I was in the mood to take it mellow, but Tboughts was feeling feisty so I put my nose to my handlebar and tried to keep up with her. A couple hours later we were home and its time to watch the Final Four. Sorry I couldn't get a better pic, but the trail kept turning back and forth and Tboughts refused to stop, so this was the best I could do.

Tomorrow is the first race of the year for me. Its a 7am (!) race, so I have to get up at 4(!!!) to get to Brooklyn on time. On the bright side I won't waste any of the day, since I'd normally sleep in til 9. The main goals of the race are to stay upright and spend a little time at or off the front testing out my legs.

IRL + CART

2008-04-01T09:18:00.002-06:00

the IRL and CART have reunified after 12 years (has it already been that long?!) of feuding. Of course its taken a couple of bankruptcy's to bring them together and neither one is at all relevant in the racing scene anymore. The one positive of this whole affair is Driven, possibly the greatest movie of the last twenty years.....

Italian is fun to listen to

2008-03-26T11:01:00.001-06:00

Caan-che-larrah!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4t3xh_milano-san-remo-2008_sport

2008-03-25T22:38:00.002-06:00

Spring break is over. I didn't do much exciting, just basic stuff. Bought a Costco membership, built a wheel, repaired a bed, cleaned my apartment, did some homework, road my bike with Tboughts, etc. Today I had a really good set of intervals. 4x10min and my HR was pegged in the 180s the whole time. I do workouts day after day and usually I'm just getting through them, but days like today something clicks and I'm able to kick it up a notch (Scottie would say 'take it to the next level'). I wish I could figure out how to get to this level all the time or at least more often.

In other news, I'm nearly finished figuring out Sapim's web of distribution. You would think that if you wanted a product, you'd call of the American division of said company and have them ship the product to your shop. Not so with Sapim, they have no American division. Instead, they distribute through the 'agents' Cane Creek and KHS bicycle parts. Since Cane Creek is getting out of the wheel business, that leaves most of the onus on KHS (not to be confused with KHS Bicycles who, as far as I know, are in no way affiliated with KHS bicycle products). KHS is a Scandinavian (my best guess is Norwegien) company which acts as a middle man between smaller Euro suppliers and the North American market. Now, say you want Sapim spokes, but don't want to deal with your local bike shop. Easy as finding the spokes on a huge online retailer Performance or Nashbar, right? Wrong. Most online retailers are actually small bike shops who don't have a large stock, except for Thor USA. Thor USA happens to carry the same brands as KHS bicycle products and list the same mailing address and if you call you will speak with the exact same Scandinavian-accented operators. Not that there is any affiliation listed by either company.

Confused? So am I... But at least I now know a dozen different ways to get some sweet spokes.

A good day

2008-03-15T11:28:00.003-06:00

Friday was one of those days in which I thought I'd feel lucky to make it out alive. Turns out it went really well.

It started at 7, after working 'til 1 the night before. First thing in the morning, I had a presentation to give my research group. It ended up going pretty well. I had a few holes I need to fix, but thats the point of the small group presentations, to find out what you're doing right and wrong.

Next up, first Tribology midterm of the semester. I was pretty convinced I wasn't prepared, since I spent too much time preparing for the presentation. Well, turns out I got lucky. Just about everything I studied ended up on the test and nothing I hadn't studied. I flew through it and ended up with an extra half hour at the end. I walked outside and the sun was out and the weather had warmed up. Perfect weather for some biking.

3x 15 min MSP. Basically doing three 5 mile TTs back to back to back. On the first one I went out to fast and overcooked it. On the second too slow, but the third went off perfect. I was breathing hard, but never needed to slow and was able to hold 22 pretty easily through the rolling hills of Old Field. A quick cool down by the beach and I was done.

As a bonus, Tboughts and I got some SalsaSalsa and saw Before the Devil Knows You're Dead which was really good, much better than I expected.

Alright, melodramatic post over. Thanks for reading.

MSP phase

2008-03-13T19:19:00.002-06:00

So in the interest of being more transparent with my training, I thought I'd post this months training. So like I've said before, I follow a modified Morris schedule. I didn't do weights and did a base period instead. Now I'm switching the MSP and sprint phases, since I like sprinting better.

The schedule looks a little confusing, but I've set it up mostly to fit my schedule. I find I follow a plan a lot better if I'm realistic about what I can do on each day, not the exact order a book sez I should be using (even then, I'm lucky if I do 75% of what I plan). Some people don't like planning every day, they feel like it becomes work, but I find it gives me a sense of control and reduces my anxiety about training. Even so, I've already missed my thursday workout and hoping I can squeeze it in friday.

Black Hills o PAIN

2008-03-12T10:13:00.003-06:00

This was one of the first rides I did in the black hills on a road bike. It was back in the fall of '05 with Doug and Fred (mean age: 61.5). At the beginning, I thought '50-60 miles with a couple of old dudes, no problem!' (well, not no problem, but I should be in too much trouble). Anyway, turns out those old dudes really put the hurt on me. I was fine until around mile 45 when we climbed up Mount Rushmore. Its about a mile and a half with an average grade of 9.5%. I was in my littlest gear pushing 60 rpms. When we got to the top I had some cereal at the snack bar (while Fred had the biggest bowl of ice cream you'd ever seen), but I still couldn't recover enough. They kicked butt while I dragged by ass the 10 miles back to the car. Its a great route though, Iron Mountain Road is my favorite.

Black Hills looop
Find more Bike Rides in Keystone, South Dakota

MapMyRide puts the total climbing at 4500 feet.

My favorite holiday

2008-03-10T06:55:00.002-06:00

Christmas? no. Easter? no. Thanksgiving? close, but no. My favorite holiday every year is the first day of Daylights Savings Time (OK maybe its not a real holiday, but I celebrate it anyway). I love when its light out past dinner time, it feels like spring is already here. Two years ago, congress was nice enough to move my favorite holiday almost a month forward, so now I get even more sun. You see, I'm not really a morning person, so whether or not there is sunlight before 7 am is of little consequence to me (unless there is the promise of some really awesome biking, then maybe I'll be awake).

Everyone around here has already started racing and I'm wondering why. First of all, its just too early. I've been training for less than two months this year and unless you started putting in base miles back in September, there no way you're in peak form yet. Also, early races like this inevitably mean you're up before daylight (see paragraph 1) and racing when temps are in the 30's, and there's something unappealing about racing in tights and a windbreaker. My second question is about the races themselves. Everyone who does these Central Park races in March tells stories of shoving, rubbing and crashing. Now, maybe these gladiators of the tarmac are just trying to sound rugged, but crashing isn't appealing to me at all. I'll save myself for races where I'm likely to stay upright, thanks.

Nutritional

2008-03-07T16:14:00.002-07:00

Fifty years ago, the biggest nutritional problem was famine and hunger, now its obiesity.

Its almost spring, get out and ride your bike.

I did, got a good ride in this morning, then came back home and had a nice nutritional meal to aid in recovery.

I should practice what I preach (re: line 1)

New Team

2008-03-06T19:44:00.002-07:00

Or is that club? I can't tell anymore.

Anywho, I'll be racing in the Royal Blue and Orange of the East End Cycling Team, the Kreb Cycle club. I'll miss suiting up in the Flanders kit, but the logistics of racing for them weren't going to work out. The EECT seems alright, plus just about everyone in Suffolk county rides for them so I should always have a teammate at a race.

Best. Week. Ever.

2008-03-04T13:16:00.002-07:00

Review:

Monday- Recovery Ride
Tuesday- 2 Hrs, 35 Miles, 50 minutes Tempo (tempo is riding a continuous pace slightly below your anaerobic threshold)
Wednesday- 3+ Hrs, 55 Miles, 60 minutes Tempo
Thursday- More Recovery Riding
Friday- 1.5 Hrs, 35 Miles, 70 minutes Tempo
Saturday- 4+ Hrs, 70 Miles with Tboughts
Sunday- 6 Hrs, 100 Miles, 60 of them being crushed on the Early Bird ride.

So thats a total of almost 300 miles and over 18 hours on the bike in whats probably the most biking I've done in one week. It was a perfect storm of circumstances that allowed it and I probably won't spend this much time biking again this year. I got lucky this year and for the first time ever classes, weather and everything cooperated so that I was able to get in a full period of base training. I rode over 1000 miles before February was over. I hope it helps in June.

This week is a recovery week, then next week I start MSP intervals. Mmmmmm... intervals.

Ski Jumping

2008-02-29T11:38:00.002-07:00

Despite what reading the blog may have you believe, cycling is definitely not the only sport in my life. My love affairs have included soccer, running, hockey, bandy, skiing and ski jumping. Ski jumping was probably what I took most seriously in high school. Every winter, all winter, I'd spend my tuesdays, thursdays, saturdays and sometimes wednesdays, fridays and sundays at Bloomington or St. Paul, throwing myself into the air over and over.

Despite what I looks like, ski jumping is a much closer relative of golf than bungee jumping. It require a great deal of muscle control, coordination and mental calmness. Sitting on the bar, taking your third jump in competition is a lot like teeing off on the 18th hole; if your head isn't in the right place, it doesn't matter how much courage you have.

Over the years, I got pretty decent at jumping. I never won anything big or even made it to JO's, but I got to the point where I was going off the big jumps with the big boys. My biggest problem became I had too much energy and too little focus. I'd be the kid running to the top of the jump over and over the day of competition, wearing myself out before it really mattered, as coach Keuler just shook his head at me. I think with a little more focus on technique and strategy and I little less concern for repetition, I would have done better.

I think that's why I doing better in cycling. First of all, the person with the most energy to go out and ride over and over is always in a better position. Its hard to reach the point where riding more will hurt you. Second, I'd learned to take a step back and use better strategy. I'm trying to make the most of my time and definitely not putting in killer rides the day before a race.

2008-02-25T12:19:00.001-07:00

I mapped out the Trevor Ride, which is where I go to have my ass kicked every Sunday morning.

Snow!

2008-02-23T17:49:00.003-07:00

I felt like I was back in SD this week. Big fluffy snow flakes falling from the sky.

Is that guy holding an umbrella in the snow?

No biking in the snow, thats for sure. Spent some good quality time on the trainer.

In other news, my insulin usage has been way down. I figured I would need more insulin as carbed it up during training, but its actually been down. I've gone from 55-60 units a day down to the mid 40's. I'm not sure exactly why it is, but its just one of the many cool things about the new pump.

2008-02-19T12:32:00.002-07:00

Today there was a wicked wind coming out of the west. Every time I was going east, I'd throw it in the 11t and crank things up to 30 or 35, then just ride the wind as long as my legs would hold out, like a sailboat out on the water. It was tons of fun, but now my legs are tired.

Competition

2008-02-18T12:58:00.003-07:00

Every year, theres someone I'm competing against who sticks out in my mind. Three years ago, it was Some Guy on an old Schwinn Homegrown. He obviously couldn't ride single track well, but he would pull away from me on every climb and, because of it, Guy beat me every time we raced together.

Two year ago, it was Eppen, putting it in a higher gear and motoring past everyone in the race like it was no big deal. To a lesser extent it was ED who would, at the drop of a hat, gap us all on any training ride.

Last year it was Woell, who pulled away from the peleton with ease in just about any race. Every time he would go, it would be all I could do just to hang onto a wheel in the chase group and I was just amazed by his speed.

I wonder who it will be this year?

In other news, I don't get VS from my cable provider, so I won't be watching any of the Tour of California. Are you?