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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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.

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!

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

Naugatuck Criterium and my own personal tour of Fairfield County

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.