Lowell was going to be my last shot at winning anything this year. I have been getting steadily better and better results. Some of that is due to fitness and some of it is due to folks upgrading to the big kids race out of the top 5 of the cat 4. When Robert told me he had upgraded to 3's the week before lowell i was glad i had set Baystate as the deadline. Back when we were all camping out on bikereg I figured late November was a good time to aim for the upgrade to cat 3, and I called my shots, like babe ruth, with my race reg. I had figured on NoHo/Plymouth/Lowell as my best shot at winning something, based on fitness and early results. But Swine Flu kept me from racing Noho (Sadness!) and not checking drive time/recovering from swine flu kept me from getting any results at plymouth. (though i did get the experience of rolling a tubular, running a lap, and getting lapped in the 3/4 at plymouth north...fun?)
SO Lowell was the last shot unless i was willing to write the super embarassing email "so I regged as a 3, but i really want to race against the 17 cat 4's I see on bike reg, so can i switch..." Yeah that would be the most lame. I was serious enough that I made sure to preride the course while we were staking in on saturday, I actually glued tires on instead of taping them, and I made an effort do a trainer warmup. The callup for CB due to co promoting was a bonus. Lowell is the right amount of technical for me, enough that my "better than the average roadie" skills can keep me ahead of folks (the ruts in the Lowellberg forest didnt show up until later in the day. And there is a enough power sections that I can keep a gap on the MTBers.
We started, Me and Billy and 2 HUPsters (Mark and ?) got the hole shot at the "ring around the tree" and I was pretty content with that. Billy is a fast wheel, usually better than I on the road and I was content to sit on wheels with him and HUP. We shed some chasers at Spaits's "spiral of Death" and into the runnup the 3 of us had a gap. Around the back 9 we were moving pretty good, with me third wheel. Billy hasnt raced much cross though and on a sneaky left hander next to the tree before the course starts switchbacking back down the hillside, we bit it hard. Mark was right on his wheel, tried to dodge, but went down on top of him. I tried to shoot the hap between mark and the tree, but it closed up. And we were caught. I figure Billy would be up again and was mostly bummed that we had blown our groups lead. Marc got going right behind me and made a pass on the hillside. Billy never showed up. Somewhere in that first lap I made a pass on marc, I think it was before the woods, but i cant say. I think it was in the woods, I think i was first onto the track...
It was bizzarre to ride off the front. Through the middle two laps, I was focused on not being stupid, I felt slow on the technical sections, but was driving it in the drops on the straights. I dont know what the time gap was, but I had quite a bit of daylight in those 2 laps. That course is fun, but riding it in the lead, with something to lose, adds a weird element of gravity to all your decisions..."brakes on this turn or not?"" high line over the exposed root or low?" Its easy to race from second place, its tough to not know whats coming.
On the 4th lap all the BS 30 minute cat 4 races+swine flu training camp started catching up with me. I felt the bonk coming and saw the gap shrinking. I had been riding the second runnup all race and on the last lap Mark was running it right behind me. I pulled ahead into the woods and kept him off my wheel. I know I have a "climber sprint" and I tried to open a gap early to protect the lead. I went hard around the barrell into the first short stretch next to the cinder track. I was bouncing off of roots in the quick loop through the woods before shooting back onto the cinders, and I just went hard for that half lap. I felt Mark coming at the backstop and heard him at the pit when he came around me, about 50 meters from the line. It worked well enough to keep 3rd and 4th place behind me, but not enough to win. Still pretty cool!
I wrote an email on monday and got this response...
USA Cycling Response from Diane Fortini:
Seth,
I have approved your cross upgrade to cat 3. You may print your authorization to ride from your account page to use as confirmation of the upgrade until your receive a cat 3 CX sticker for your license. If you will be racing in Sterling this weekend at the Baystate Cross Race I will be officiating and can give you a sticker there.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Diane Fortini
Yay back row! Ive missed you!
Friday, November 27, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
They race cross out west?
Boy do they!
As the several avid followers of this blog will no doubt know, New England Cross is the O.G. (Original Gansta for all you white folk). Everything else tries to be us. I guess....
I did a Bay Area Super Prestige last week and have to say that different is kinda neat sometimes. It seems like riding out west its own thing. I mean there is a reason that In its history the Handmade Show has always been out west, and in San Jose for 2 or 3 years. Bay Area likes to bike, and they race like they cook, mixing all kinds of crazy stuff in.
Here are some observations from BASP #2, Coyote Point!
-Mountain bikes are ok. Im fairly certain that several top 20 riders in the cat C were on MTB's. The course was soft and slow so i dont think it hurt, and was clearly laid out by mountain riders. Lotsa stuff that made a roadie like me nervous about my tire sliding around was getting bombed by guys on heavy bikes with 52mm tires. I sorta hoped to see some Monster cross rigs, but maybe all those guys are racing elites, or else a myth. The course had a really fast off camber dirt descent with looseness and gravel and roots. The kind of thing that all the masters preride and call shenanigans on in NE, but no one complained about it and i didnt see anyone die on it either. ALso a lot of climbing, I shoulda plotted it but when you come from thinking that Providence is a race with a lot of climbing, its shocking to hit a couple hundred feet of climbing each lap.
-No-one shoulders! I was so proud of my moves! I was racing the new igleheart and the front triangle is much easier to fit my arm through, plus i had been practicing the "throw to the shoulder" i kept seeing in the elite race. But no-one was impressed! The rest of the field was content to just push their bikes. There were some long (like 20 second) runs, and they were close together. It was definately worth it to pick the bike up. At least i was bad ass in someones photos.
-No USAC means no helmets. I dont know if this was random or what. But in my last lap i found myself lapping a rider wearing a ballcap. at least it was a trek ballcap, but still. He may have been warming up (like an ass) but he moved over like a lapped rider and was riding at that hard but slow pace of lapped riders, so im guessing he is also the type who rides a motorcycle and pulls over when he enters a state with no helmet law, just to take his off and strut his "freedom to choose". seriously WTF!
-Tailgate! there was a designated team tent area next to reg and the finish line. At most races we are one fo the few teams with a tent and a cooler. I saw a dozen teams with grills, beers snack tables and soignoirs. Maybe not all of that, but a mini city sprung up and it was pretty cool to see so many teams encamping for the day.
-prereg and results are good things! we come to expect that results get posted within 20 minutes of a race ending and that reg is quick. but these things are luxuries not known around the world! My race was 140 starters. I was told that they have been so overwhelmed this year with racers that they tried to use chips to get results, like at triathalons. This weekend they brought in 2 teams of officials just to score races, and they still took an hour and a half to get things up. All day there was a line at reg because everyone was day of. Its nuts!
Overall the vibe was chill, the air was warm and the race was right on the water. Beach and everything. If you can get there early enough to lineup for reg, its totally worth trying to hit one of these races.
As the several avid followers of this blog will no doubt know, New England Cross is the O.G. (Original Gansta for all you white folk). Everything else tries to be us. I guess....
I did a Bay Area Super Prestige last week and have to say that different is kinda neat sometimes. It seems like riding out west its own thing. I mean there is a reason that In its history the Handmade Show has always been out west, and in San Jose for 2 or 3 years. Bay Area likes to bike, and they race like they cook, mixing all kinds of crazy stuff in.
Here are some observations from BASP #2, Coyote Point!
-Mountain bikes are ok. Im fairly certain that several top 20 riders in the cat C were on MTB's. The course was soft and slow so i dont think it hurt, and was clearly laid out by mountain riders. Lotsa stuff that made a roadie like me nervous about my tire sliding around was getting bombed by guys on heavy bikes with 52mm tires. I sorta hoped to see some Monster cross rigs, but maybe all those guys are racing elites, or else a myth. The course had a really fast off camber dirt descent with looseness and gravel and roots. The kind of thing that all the masters preride and call shenanigans on in NE, but no one complained about it and i didnt see anyone die on it either. ALso a lot of climbing, I shoulda plotted it but when you come from thinking that Providence is a race with a lot of climbing, its shocking to hit a couple hundred feet of climbing each lap.
-No-one shoulders! I was so proud of my moves! I was racing the new igleheart and the front triangle is much easier to fit my arm through, plus i had been practicing the "throw to the shoulder" i kept seeing in the elite race. But no-one was impressed! The rest of the field was content to just push their bikes. There were some long (like 20 second) runs, and they were close together. It was definately worth it to pick the bike up. At least i was bad ass in someones photos.
-No USAC means no helmets. I dont know if this was random or what. But in my last lap i found myself lapping a rider wearing a ballcap. at least it was a trek ballcap, but still. He may have been warming up (like an ass) but he moved over like a lapped rider and was riding at that hard but slow pace of lapped riders, so im guessing he is also the type who rides a motorcycle and pulls over when he enters a state with no helmet law, just to take his off and strut his "freedom to choose". seriously WTF!
-Tailgate! there was a designated team tent area next to reg and the finish line. At most races we are one fo the few teams with a tent and a cooler. I saw a dozen teams with grills, beers snack tables and soignoirs. Maybe not all of that, but a mini city sprung up and it was pretty cool to see so many teams encamping for the day.
-prereg and results are good things! we come to expect that results get posted within 20 minutes of a race ending and that reg is quick. but these things are luxuries not known around the world! My race was 140 starters. I was told that they have been so overwhelmed this year with racers that they tried to use chips to get results, like at triathalons. This weekend they brought in 2 teams of officials just to score races, and they still took an hour and a half to get things up. All day there was a line at reg because everyone was day of. Its nuts!
Overall the vibe was chill, the air was warm and the race was right on the water. Beach and everything. If you can get there early enough to lineup for reg, its totally worth trying to hit one of these races.
a race happened in Kalifornia...
Here's a race report;
There were 3 CB kits, including me, racing in other catagories. Thayne
and a guy named Brad (who had helped kip remodel the shop a while
back). I showed up early since there is no pre-reg out west ( unless
you placed top 20 the week before and earned a call up). I had plenty
of time to ride the course and then warm up while the combined
juniors/C women/ masters 55+/ junior girls raced. I got a partial lap
in before staging, which was helpful but cost me a couple rows on
staging. I pulled a Mashburn-esque move and showed into the top third
of the 140 riders in the cat C race and waited for the gun.
The course stared on a long soft climb. I mean long! We were over a
minute in when we hit the flat paved finishing section. So many
riders meant a lot of passing, but also that the leaders put a lot of
time into us pretty quickly. Most of the course was very technical,
bur weirdly so. Soft earth covered by strips of bark and leaves. It
made for some very tentative riding by the roadies in the pack,
including myself in parts.
I was able to do a lot of passing, especially on the 2 long loamy
run-ups. I am proud to say that I can shoulder my new Igleheart like a
pro, while a lot of the guys I passed were pushing or sorta suitcasing
their bikes. After the two runs we hit some flat power sections and
then the ironicly named "TRP brake zone" which was a long s shaped
sandpit that wasn't ridable for the early races. More running and
another soft bumpy grass section meant that when we finally hit the
pavement before a fast dirt descent, I heard a lot of free wheels
behind me. I heard a spectator counting places say 26 near the end of
lap one.
The rest of the race was pretty open till the last lap I was catching
people one or two at a time. Usually passing on the power sections or
by running early on the runups. One the last lap I started catching
lapped traffic pretty hard. Every one was pretty good at giving up
the line if you yelled at them. But it definately helped out some
guys I had just passed. Noons came around me and I finished pretty
strong (for me). Once results went up I realized I'd gotten 14th.
Tyler says that waspretty good. But I think I should have staged
better. Most of the race was againsn the course, it was really tricky
and the mountain bikes did well. There were definately people I could
beat who placed better than I did. I gotta say that as different as
it was,( no USAC rules lots running, dudes without helmets, a
feedzone...) it was a blast and I'm glad I had my Igleheart built as a
breakaway so I can race my "A bike" even when traveling. Bay area
super prestige is legit! There is even a lit night race in San Fran
in a couple weeks.
Unfortunately I couldn't hang out with Thayne. They do the B men last,
with the single speeds, I guess to build crowds for the elites. But
we couldn't hang around that late to see him. But it was cool to see
CB colors and a couple green iglehearts racing. Also I saw a fan in a
PVB (designed by Pedal Powered) shirt yelling and chasing a racer in the masters race.
There were 3 CB kits, including me, racing in other catagories. Thayne
and a guy named Brad (who had helped kip remodel the shop a while
back). I showed up early since there is no pre-reg out west ( unless
you placed top 20 the week before and earned a call up). I had plenty
of time to ride the course and then warm up while the combined
juniors/C women/ masters 55+/ junior girls raced. I got a partial lap
in before staging, which was helpful but cost me a couple rows on
staging. I pulled a Mashburn-esque move and showed into the top third
of the 140 riders in the cat C race and waited for the gun.
The course stared on a long soft climb. I mean long! We were over a
minute in when we hit the flat paved finishing section. So many
riders meant a lot of passing, but also that the leaders put a lot of
time into us pretty quickly. Most of the course was very technical,
bur weirdly so. Soft earth covered by strips of bark and leaves. It
made for some very tentative riding by the roadies in the pack,
including myself in parts.
I was able to do a lot of passing, especially on the 2 long loamy
run-ups. I am proud to say that I can shoulder my new Igleheart like a
pro, while a lot of the guys I passed were pushing or sorta suitcasing
their bikes. After the two runs we hit some flat power sections and
then the ironicly named "TRP brake zone" which was a long s shaped
sandpit that wasn't ridable for the early races. More running and
another soft bumpy grass section meant that when we finally hit the
pavement before a fast dirt descent, I heard a lot of free wheels
behind me. I heard a spectator counting places say 26 near the end of
lap one.
The rest of the race was pretty open till the last lap I was catching
people one or two at a time. Usually passing on the power sections or
by running early on the runups. One the last lap I started catching
lapped traffic pretty hard. Every one was pretty good at giving up
the line if you yelled at them. But it definately helped out some
guys I had just passed. Noons came around me and I finished pretty
strong (for me). Once results went up I realized I'd gotten 14th.
Tyler says that waspretty good. But I think I should have staged
better. Most of the race was againsn the course, it was really tricky
and the mountain bikes did well. There were definately people I could
beat who placed better than I did. I gotta say that as different as
it was,( no USAC rules lots running, dudes without helmets, a
feedzone...) it was a blast and I'm glad I had my Igleheart built as a
breakaway so I can race my "A bike" even when traveling. Bay area
super prestige is legit! There is even a lit night race in San Fran
in a couple weeks.
Unfortunately I couldn't hang out with Thayne. They do the B men last,
with the single speeds, I guess to build crowds for the elites. But
we couldn't hang around that late to see him. But it was cool to see
CB colors and a couple green iglehearts racing. Also I saw a fan in a
PVB (designed by Pedal Powered) shirt yelling and chasing a racer in the masters race.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Am I sandbagging now?
Now is the time to decide when I have reached my goals. I got my first Podium at Verge VT on sunday. It was awesome not to feel like a failure! I sorta knew i had a shot at doing well, it was a small field and I was psyched about the mud after flatting out of 4th on saturday. I had done a good job of passing folks the whole race until the flat so i figured I was stronger enough on the power sections to do some damage, but I couldnt let the leaders get too far out.
I sorta didnt do that part very well. Mid hole-shot I was up with the leaders, but I was trying to find a good line and let a few people, including John from BackBay, come around me while we sorted out the first lap. I hung back, not wanting to get bounced off my bike by someone elses line or misjudging the edges of the dirt track we were all riding. I knew I had caught all of the guys in my group on saturday so i gambled i could do it again and waited for the straighter sections of course i knew were coming. I kept seeing the top 2 riders just up ahead.
As one of the three infront of me would get gassed and start slowing i would make a pass. I was in 5th halfway through the first lap, and feeling pretty strong. The first time we hit the whoopdies I was in 4th i think. I left some room to get a clear run and rode the runup without much trouble. I was really able to wind it up the back half of the course. I was in the drops across the straightaway, almost overcooked the turn to the barriers, then was back in the drops chasing through the wide path on behind the finish line. I caught 3rd place through the finish line, and came around him convincingly (ihoped) in the twisty stuff just after.
This was the first time i had something to lose in a bike race and I wasnt quite sure how to handle it. The course was getting noticably slicker each lap, and I was nervous about the worn in track after Nick had wrecked his bike and his hand last year in them. My caution meant that the second lap had a little back and forth, jockeying for 3rd. I was having a blast though, getting in the drops every time there was a straightish section. I gapped 4th place before the stair run and started trying to reel in 2nd.
there were times when i could see him just a turn ahead of me, Matt Green from Spooky, and times when i couldnt. I found out he was a downhiller and the mtb riding definately helped him. Into the whoopdies I was close. After riding the runup and the fast grassy descent I was not. I was making up ground on the power sections, but losing when bike handling could give you an edge.
I spent the whole last lap trying to balance not falling down and maintaining my podium, since 4th place was still in sight, and pushing to close the gap on #2. He must have been flying on the final lap, coming off of the whoops. I drilled it and was scaring myself a little in some of the turns the 2nd half of that lap, but still finished about 10 seconds back.
My dad had come to the race and i thikn got some pictures of me looking tough on the course, which was awesome! There was no podium becuase of the weather, and no medals because of fedex. But it still was pretty neat to have finally done well and almost won something.
Hopefully i can keep it going with a front row start at gloucester
I sorta didnt do that part very well. Mid hole-shot I was up with the leaders, but I was trying to find a good line and let a few people, including John from BackBay, come around me while we sorted out the first lap. I hung back, not wanting to get bounced off my bike by someone elses line or misjudging the edges of the dirt track we were all riding. I knew I had caught all of the guys in my group on saturday so i gambled i could do it again and waited for the straighter sections of course i knew were coming. I kept seeing the top 2 riders just up ahead.
As one of the three infront of me would get gassed and start slowing i would make a pass. I was in 5th halfway through the first lap, and feeling pretty strong. The first time we hit the whoopdies I was in 4th i think. I left some room to get a clear run and rode the runup without much trouble. I was really able to wind it up the back half of the course. I was in the drops across the straightaway, almost overcooked the turn to the barriers, then was back in the drops chasing through the wide path on behind the finish line. I caught 3rd place through the finish line, and came around him convincingly (ihoped) in the twisty stuff just after.
This was the first time i had something to lose in a bike race and I wasnt quite sure how to handle it. The course was getting noticably slicker each lap, and I was nervous about the worn in track after Nick had wrecked his bike and his hand last year in them. My caution meant that the second lap had a little back and forth, jockeying for 3rd. I was having a blast though, getting in the drops every time there was a straightish section. I gapped 4th place before the stair run and started trying to reel in 2nd.
there were times when i could see him just a turn ahead of me, Matt Green from Spooky, and times when i couldnt. I found out he was a downhiller and the mtb riding definately helped him. Into the whoopdies I was close. After riding the runup and the fast grassy descent I was not. I was making up ground on the power sections, but losing when bike handling could give you an edge.
I spent the whole last lap trying to balance not falling down and maintaining my podium, since 4th place was still in sight, and pushing to close the gap on #2. He must have been flying on the final lap, coming off of the whoops. I drilled it and was scaring myself a little in some of the turns the 2nd half of that lap, but still finished about 10 seconds back.
My dad had come to the race and i thikn got some pictures of me looking tough on the course, which was awesome! There was no podium becuase of the weather, and no medals because of fedex. But it still was pretty neat to have finally done well and almost won something.
Hopefully i can keep it going with a front row start at gloucester
Monday, September 21, 2009
They are on to me!
This past weekend was the un-official official opening to the cyclocross season in new england. You could tell because it suddenly became necessary to embrocate for simple tasks like dog walking.
There was this bike race too, its called suckerbrook. Its a pretty fun course, nice and fast, not a lot of tough stuff, but enough speed you can get yourself in trouble and fall down if you are not careful and are a fan of file treads. I personally witnessed two slideouts on the off camber grass, and one full yardsale at the bottom of the stairs. i rode a relatively uneventful race. I passed some people, didnt fall down, rode the sand yada yada. I got 12th, but the best news regarding my quest to be the fastest slow kid is that two of the folks who beat me, teammate nick and team villian Jeff, both upgraded because they dont like winning races and dont want to do it anymore. Nick won sucker brook and Jeff won waterville valley the day before. Im most excited about this because I like winning, and now two people who are better at winning than I am are not in my race anymore. sweet!
I was not content to let other peoples upgrade and just cruise to eventual victory in the cat 4's. I figured i ought to get faster as well, and since the races were only 30 minutes I looked into racing again like i did at quad. You know "for training."
I got a bit of a runaround from the volunteers and eventually found myself asking Diane (USACycling's New England Czar) about a hypothetical racer who wanted to race with the 3's. I think she is on to me now though, she offered to sticker my race license right there and make me a cat 3 so that i could race again! Luckily i hadnt told her my name so she cant chase me down and make me upgrade, but she might recognize me at a race somewhere now. I just cant have my quest for domination set back by having to race faster people! Not now while I am so close!
There was this bike race too, its called suckerbrook. Its a pretty fun course, nice and fast, not a lot of tough stuff, but enough speed you can get yourself in trouble and fall down if you are not careful and are a fan of file treads. I personally witnessed two slideouts on the off camber grass, and one full yardsale at the bottom of the stairs. i rode a relatively uneventful race. I passed some people, didnt fall down, rode the sand yada yada. I got 12th, but the best news regarding my quest to be the fastest slow kid is that two of the folks who beat me, teammate nick and team villian Jeff, both upgraded because they dont like winning races and dont want to do it anymore. Nick won sucker brook and Jeff won waterville valley the day before. Im most excited about this because I like winning, and now two people who are better at winning than I am are not in my race anymore. sweet!
I was not content to let other peoples upgrade and just cruise to eventual victory in the cat 4's. I figured i ought to get faster as well, and since the races were only 30 minutes I looked into racing again like i did at quad. You know "for training."
I got a bit of a runaround from the volunteers and eventually found myself asking Diane (USACycling's New England Czar) about a hypothetical racer who wanted to race with the 3's. I think she is on to me now though, she offered to sticker my race license right there and make me a cat 3 so that i could race again! Luckily i hadnt told her my name so she cant chase me down and make me upgrade, but she might recognize me at a race somewhere now. I just cant have my quest for domination set back by having to race faster people! Not now while I am so close!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Look how i nervously race bikes!
SOmehow I dont think I have ever seen a photo of myself on a bike that I didnt think, "man I look like a weirdo." I dont know what it is. Maybe just cause i know its me. In trying to analyze this picture I cant really find much wrong.
Bike is jauntily leaned over into the turn-check
Outside pedal down for proper cornering-check
competitor so far behind me he is out of focus-check
I am on the brakes, which Tasha has said "just makes you slower" (true fact!) and my helmet does NOT match my kit, nor does it fashionably cover my hat. That must be it.
In any case. In my quest to eventually dominate the cat fours and at the advice of my new coach I attempted to race twice at the quad cross this weekend. I wont say it went badly, but i will say it only seemed like a good idea before the first race, and then again after the second one. For the 3 hours in between staging the cat 4's and wandering across the finish line with the 3/4's it seemed pretty dumb.
The cat 4 started like they all do. Rushing around to get #'s and bikes ready and kit on and then not warming up and staging way back. I have actually made it my move when i dont warm up to intentionally stage late so i can loosen up on an easy 1st lap because it always clogs up and slows down if you are not up front. 94 people (!) showed up for quad cross. I beat my DFL hole shot from springfield by a good bit but was still well back on the first lap. Once it opened up i started utilizing the 40 second intervals i have been doing all month and was doing pretty well at passing people when there was room, and on this course there was tons of room. The back field was nice and wide and tacky with damp grass over sticky firm mud. It felt great to set a turn on tires that i trusted and pass people on bike handling! I was even complimented mid race by a threshold rider I was passing. I kept moving up and at some point clint yelled that i was 16th. I was a bit impressed with myself but also quickly demoralized when the lap cards told that despite what my internal race clock told me, I had 3 laps to go. I kept moving up and didnt see anyone come from behind me until new team mate Lee powered around me on grassy section after the start. I spent the rest of the last lap feeling like a bully and chasing down a 13 year old Gougin/Kehoe kid who was racing with us. I didnt feel like I faded much through the race, but also had no idea where i was. Assuming clint could count I was top 20 maybe?
With $10 burning a hole in my pocket and not feeling totally destroyed after getting some water I "borrowed" Natalia's rimdrive trainer to stay loose for the second race. My plan, since this was all training, was to race in a gentlemanly fashion until i started embarassing myself. Sadly it didnt happen. I gridded up at the back and was totally DFL at the first pit. The start was noticably faster with a smaller field than the 4 race had been. I literally coasted into the first set of hairpins back in the field, with a pack of riders jammed up and running ahead of me. Inexplicably I had passed a rider by the time we went "all around the mullberry bush" the first time. I felt like I had the course pretty well dialed, but still spent the first lap feeling out how the sun and drying/churned up mud had changed things. But I was pretty confident and every lap picked up a couple places. I caught up to Scott and Spaits, fellow CB riders, just as spaits was having some technicals. He had wrapped up tall grass in his cassette and i could hear him complaining once he got moving behind me. I saw this as a perfect excuse to stop raceing and started yelling at him to figure out if he also had eggbeaters and if I could give him my bike next time past the pits. I would be a hero AND i would be able to stop racing for the day and drink! WIN and WIN! Unfortunately he was riding atacs, a bike several sizes larger than mine and also not into the idea even when his chain broke on the next lap (SRAM RECALL!) I started bargaining with myself that i would ride until the cat results went up, then i would go four laps, and when four laps put me at one to go I told myself to man up and finish, so i did. I faded a bit/scott put down the hammer in the last lap and he came back around me to gain back a couple places. But I finished a second race with a respectable number of folks behind me.
I found out later that my time in the 3/4 was better than in the 4, whatever that means. But all in all It was pretty solid. 13th in the fours and 26th in the 3/4's. Ill be warming up my victim list soon!
BTW, i totally used that photo without permission, so you should check out ejcphotography's photostream on flickr for more pictures to balance things out, Karmicly you know.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
I ALWAYS THOUGHT...
I always thought fancy gear was wasted on me and I couldnt tell the difference between the $1,000 frame and the $5,000 frame. I got the fancy stuff cheap from working for bike companies or shops so i just rode it.
I just rode the Edge Tubulars after a month on my clinchers (chris king and DT suisse R1.1). I was amazed at how much stiffer they feel! Even with big fat 34mm tubies with very little air in them I was bouncing off of stuff i got used to rolling over on the clinchers. Weird huh? i guess thats what deep dish carbon is for right!
Maybe the nice gear is worth it?
I just rode the Edge Tubulars after a month on my clinchers (chris king and DT suisse R1.1). I was amazed at how much stiffer they feel! Even with big fat 34mm tubies with very little air in them I was bouncing off of stuff i got used to rolling over on the clinchers. Weird huh? i guess thats what deep dish carbon is for right!
Maybe the nice gear is worth it?
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
So it begins (again)
And we're back...
A new coach, new plan, soon a new bike. But Cross season hasnt really begun until the Edge Tubulars shed their larval road tires and emerge, butterfly like, resplendent in Knobby glory.
Last year I kind of geeked out on cross tires, and in my quest to find an aggressive tubular tread, ended racing on some vintage rubber that was mighty skinny. They looked like dirt bike tires from the 60's, im not lying. They grabbed the ground well, but I couldnt run the low pressures that are the whole point of buying pretentious tubular tires, bouncing around on rocky or rooty sections was not too much fun.
This year, after riding D2R2 on road racing tires and doing a good amount of trail riding on my own, Im not nearly as stressed. I was able to climb some nice steep gravel roads in deerfield on slicks, so i dont feel an aggressive tread is as important this year. Fangos were available and decently priced on the last team order, so Fangos are what I got (BTW 34mm fangos are HUGE!) I am currently scouring ebay for a cheap set of campy compatable clincher "B" wheels to give me some more options, but at the moment the Edge 1.38s will get a lot of use so the tires had better work pretty well all the time.
I have been a disciple of taping tires since last season. I know that gluing is delightfully "baroque" as the bikesnob put it. But I like the fact that I can put a new tire on in a half hour, rather than 3 days. And to everyone who says that im playing with fire, I submit the photos below. That small bit of unseated tubular tire is as much as i could get up after 20 minutes and a thumb blister. These tires have been taped on for one road season. So, the tape is plenty sticky enough.
I think that glueing tires must fall in with leg shaving. We do it because that is "how it is done". Now im not saying there is a better option for shaving legs, that technology is still waiting for some daring young inventor to make his fortune. But it seems that tubular tape is much more idiot proof than glueing and, in my experience, just as reliable. I dont tape because I cant glue, I actually CAN glue tire up, and still prefer the tape. Maybe im just an early adopter, sadly its just an advantage when it comes to my sanity, and not performance enhancing. Though if I do win any races maybe i will credit the tape and see if anyone converts...
20 minutes later...the tire remains and my thumbs hurt.
A new coach, new plan, soon a new bike. But Cross season hasnt really begun until the Edge Tubulars shed their larval road tires and emerge, butterfly like, resplendent in Knobby glory.
Last year I kind of geeked out on cross tires, and in my quest to find an aggressive tubular tread, ended racing on some vintage rubber that was mighty skinny. They looked like dirt bike tires from the 60's, im not lying. They grabbed the ground well, but I couldnt run the low pressures that are the whole point of buying pretentious tubular tires, bouncing around on rocky or rooty sections was not too much fun.
This year, after riding D2R2 on road racing tires and doing a good amount of trail riding on my own, Im not nearly as stressed. I was able to climb some nice steep gravel roads in deerfield on slicks, so i dont feel an aggressive tread is as important this year. Fangos were available and decently priced on the last team order, so Fangos are what I got (BTW 34mm fangos are HUGE!) I am currently scouring ebay for a cheap set of campy compatable clincher "B" wheels to give me some more options, but at the moment the Edge 1.38s will get a lot of use so the tires had better work pretty well all the time.
I have been a disciple of taping tires since last season. I know that gluing is delightfully "baroque" as the bikesnob put it. But I like the fact that I can put a new tire on in a half hour, rather than 3 days. And to everyone who says that im playing with fire, I submit the photos below. That small bit of unseated tubular tire is as much as i could get up after 20 minutes and a thumb blister. These tires have been taped on for one road season. So, the tape is plenty sticky enough.
I think that glueing tires must fall in with leg shaving. We do it because that is "how it is done". Now im not saying there is a better option for shaving legs, that technology is still waiting for some daring young inventor to make his fortune. But it seems that tubular tape is much more idiot proof than glueing and, in my experience, just as reliable. I dont tape because I cant glue, I actually CAN glue tire up, and still prefer the tape. Maybe im just an early adopter, sadly its just an advantage when it comes to my sanity, and not performance enhancing. Though if I do win any races maybe i will credit the tape and see if anyone converts...
20 minutes later...the tire remains and my thumbs hurt.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Bike Fixin'
Spaits got himself crashed up back at Battenkill. He ended up with some nice roadrash, a cracked seatstay and a nice excuse to buy a new frame. Since i used to build frames for Parlee, Matt asked me to repair the stay so his dad could upgrade his own bike.
Here is the before...
well, before the repair was finished anyway. The pictures of the crack before I sanded it out didnt come out.
Once I opened the damaged area up, it was clear that the stay had a couple small cracks. One went all the way through.
Here is the before...
well, before the repair was finished anyway. The pictures of the crack before I sanded it out didnt come out.
Once I opened the damaged area up, it was clear that the stay had a couple small cracks. One went all the way through.
Here is the completed repair. You can see that I used a different weave carbon fiber to cover the repair. There is also some unidirection layers below the woven layers.
Except for the missing seatstay decal its mint!
Monday, May 25, 2009
stalking fitchburg
I drove out to Fitchburg on this sunny memorial day to try and figure out how to survive it this year. Those who were there last year will remember me limping to the top of the access road after riding two laps on my own and missing the time cut for the next stage of the race.
The big goal of the summer, on my quest to cat 4 domination of NE cyclocross, is to do well at the road stage and be a useful domestique in the crit at fitchburg. Im hoping that we again have a GC rider who can place in the race, and im hoping that to eventually be strong enough to help that guy (Nick? Gary?) win something.
Despite my efforts to get teammates to join me on a scouting ride i ended up out there alone. I felt like i remembered the course pretty well from last year. typically im pretty dubious of "pre-riding" a course. But in this case im glad i did it. My memory of the loop was definately a little bit off and riding it alone gave me a chance to sort out the sections of the course and understand how to ride it.
I feel like i mostly hear about the climb through princeton as the key part of the race. Today I felt like that was definately a dramatic part of the race, with some pretty steep sections, but I think its just where you see the race split, not where it actually happens.
Starting at the ski lodge, the course is pretty fast without anything especially challenging for the first few miles. A little ways after turning right at a "captain bobs" dairy bar you pass a soccer complex and thats where the climbing starts. The Princeton climb, where the feed zone is, is just the last part of a 8-9 minute grind, that starts just past the soccer fields. There are 2 shallower climbs with brief flats on them before making the turn on 62 where it really starts to hurt. I think that getting up that first section is key to staying with the race and getting in position, once you turn into princeton center and see the feed, your about 2 minutes from the end of real climbing. The steep pitch on 62 into princeton and the turn killing speed and then the final pitch past the feed are the final straws for a lot of riders, they were for me last year. but it was the climb into those sections that put me at the back of the field chasing.
After the princeton climb you get about 5-6 minutes of rolling hills, and even a short downhill grade before hitting the second section of climbing. The grade is deceptive, its not a killer, but the lack of good visual markers make it seem shorter than it is. This section is about a 6 minute grind of varying pitch, with only one real flat section to rest briefly. There is a good reason that the end of this climb is the KOM point. Its also a nice setup that will help thin out the climbers on the final lap before hitting the access road on the last lap. On the first three laps you get a nice long fast descent just after the KOM, past the ski area and back down to the flat section of the course. and about 15-20 minutes until you have to do real work again, assuming you hung onto the group.
Sadly the access road is under construction and also being guarded by a ranger, so i couldn't ride up it. Im going to try and go back once that is ridable again. Im pretty confident that knowing the breakdown of the course is going to help a lot this year. Id like to have a sense of how long the final climb is and how the pitches come at you.
The big goal of the summer, on my quest to cat 4 domination of NE cyclocross, is to do well at the road stage and be a useful domestique in the crit at fitchburg. Im hoping that we again have a GC rider who can place in the race, and im hoping that to eventually be strong enough to help that guy (Nick? Gary?) win something.
Despite my efforts to get teammates to join me on a scouting ride i ended up out there alone. I felt like i remembered the course pretty well from last year. typically im pretty dubious of "pre-riding" a course. But in this case im glad i did it. My memory of the loop was definately a little bit off and riding it alone gave me a chance to sort out the sections of the course and understand how to ride it.
I feel like i mostly hear about the climb through princeton as the key part of the race. Today I felt like that was definately a dramatic part of the race, with some pretty steep sections, but I think its just where you see the race split, not where it actually happens.
Starting at the ski lodge, the course is pretty fast without anything especially challenging for the first few miles. A little ways after turning right at a "captain bobs" dairy bar you pass a soccer complex and thats where the climbing starts. The Princeton climb, where the feed zone is, is just the last part of a 8-9 minute grind, that starts just past the soccer fields. There are 2 shallower climbs with brief flats on them before making the turn on 62 where it really starts to hurt. I think that getting up that first section is key to staying with the race and getting in position, once you turn into princeton center and see the feed, your about 2 minutes from the end of real climbing. The steep pitch on 62 into princeton and the turn killing speed and then the final pitch past the feed are the final straws for a lot of riders, they were for me last year. but it was the climb into those sections that put me at the back of the field chasing.
After the princeton climb you get about 5-6 minutes of rolling hills, and even a short downhill grade before hitting the second section of climbing. The grade is deceptive, its not a killer, but the lack of good visual markers make it seem shorter than it is. This section is about a 6 minute grind of varying pitch, with only one real flat section to rest briefly. There is a good reason that the end of this climb is the KOM point. Its also a nice setup that will help thin out the climbers on the final lap before hitting the access road on the last lap. On the first three laps you get a nice long fast descent just after the KOM, past the ski area and back down to the flat section of the course. and about 15-20 minutes until you have to do real work again, assuming you hung onto the group.
Sadly the access road is under construction and also being guarded by a ranger, so i couldn't ride up it. Im going to try and go back once that is ridable again. Im pretty confident that knowing the breakdown of the course is going to help a lot this year. Id like to have a sense of how long the final climb is and how the pitches come at you.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Did I win a race?
I did!
* 1 lap Chariot Race
1. Seth Davis Cambridge Bicycle / Igleheart Frames
2. David Tremblay
3. Todd Eves Minuteman Road Club
4. Michael Tobin Unattached
5. Willie Walker Unattached
How in the world I won a 1 lap sprint against anyone is a huge mystery to me. In both the heat and final I dumped it all at the gun and have no idea what happened behind me.
So i guess training works?
* 1 lap Chariot Race
1. Seth Davis Cambridge Bicycle / Igleheart Frames
2. David Tremblay
3. Todd Eves Minuteman Road Club
4. Michael Tobin Unattached
5. Willie Walker Unattached
How in the world I won a 1 lap sprint against anyone is a huge mystery to me. In both the heat and final I dumped it all at the gun and have no idea what happened behind me.
So i guess training works?
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Post in which I do the opposite of sandbagging...
...And ride with people clearly faster than me.I went for a ride this evening with some of the Cat3's from Cambridge, Cary and RMM. The plan was to ride out to Blue Hills and climb the observatory access road. I wont bore you with the details since the ride was pretty uneventful, except for a very Karmic-ly timed flat for Cary, just after he started giving me some sass about riding Tubulars.
But the Hill is a killer. Its nice and long and well wooded, with no car traffic since its a closed service road. If you picture 6 minutes of idyllic climbing then your pretty close, except take out the Idyllic parts because unless your watching it on Versus, in slow motion, Climbing never feels elegant or graceful. There are a couple sections where I was definately maxing out my cassette and still Cary and RMM were gradually getting away.
In fact the only times I beat anyone up the hill are when Mike missed his clip in at the bottom and I got a few seconds lead as we started up.
The point of this post is that getting my butt kicked by a long hill and two cat 3's I think i figured out how to climb. By which i mean, I figured out how I climb. In the lead up to battenkill there are a lot of opinions about tire choice, tubular vs clincher, and gearing. And I decided today that a lot of that is like watching pre-game for the superbowl. People just need to fill time before the big show starts and its easy in biking to over think and over share your overthinking with others when it comes down to gear.
What I figured out today is I need to spin to be able to climb fast. Ive sort of known this from cross, I consistently undergear myself compared to the other cambridge guys. And I placed well at Freddy v Jason with absurdly light 34x14 single speed gearing. Today on the climbing I actually felt best on the last few climbs because i started spinning on the less steep sections, keeping cadence up enough that I could stay in the saddle made a big difference in how fast i got up the hill. On the steep sections when i ran out of bigger cogs i just dont have the power to spend. So im very excited about the 11x28 cassette that came in the mail last week.
So thats what works for me, but im 130 lbs with only 3 months of serious training going for me. So dont take my advice on anything unless you are a secret twin or something.
Maybe there is hope for me as a climber yet?
Monday, April 6, 2009
People keep making themselves my enemies!
I guess I've been lucky in the years ive been racing bikes that I have never actually been involved in a crash while racing. There have been a couple times when people have crashed around me, but ive been able to avoid these "entanglements" myself.
So it was a shock on sunday, at the first race of the year that I found myself out of the race and unable to support the team because of a crash at Marblehead. And a silly crash at that.
I think we all accept a bit of risk when we race, and there were certainly several chances to take yourself out this weekend. A car on the course that could not be cleared before the start, the famous "Marblehead Hairpin", and the rookies who are always part of mixed 4/5 fields. But I was crashed out because of someone being dumb.
CCB fields a number of Juniors and most of them are fast kids. I found myself behind one of them several times in the first half of the race and noticed that his bike was squeaky and he was not a smooth rider. A squeky bike on race day means one of 2 things, either you dont know better and dont care, or you ride too much to keep things clean. If you are on your bike 7 days a week ill forgive a dirty bike that makes some noise, but once i started seeing some of the hard cuts into the field the kid was making I was pretty sure that he was the former and that he was best avoided.
With 4 laps to go we had our first crash of the race when someone finally got sloppy near the car on the course and bounced off it, I found out later this took Gregor out of contention. At the end of the back half of the course my favorite squeaky cervelo found himself in front of me when he decided to cut in on a wheel and cause our second crash of the race. It was a typical crash. Front wheel versus rear wheel, the kid lost his front end and went down at decent speed, turning his bike sideways. A racer who had been moving up to pass us both got caught as he went down and blocked the only room I had to avoid. Being the type of person who keeps things in pretty good and functional shape, if not always perfectly clean, all my bussiness worked well and I got things stopped a couple inches from running the culprit over. But of course people behind me were less aware of what had hapened and ran into me, knocking into the crash. By the time I got up the field was a good bit ahead, but still visible. Pretty quickly i determined that everything was working, but that my shifting had bit of a delay in it, but it was minor. I chashed up, trying to catch the field as they slowed for the hairpin, but soloing into the headwind took too much and I was still by myself as I made the turn. After a hard lap of chasing I started finding wheels from others who had been involved in one of the crashes, and among them Gregor. We rode it in together, finishing the race and beating the dreaded "DNF" that would have otherwise appeared on our "road-results.com" file.
So this kid is now on the list of wheels to avoid, and hopefully give me reason to bark at the next time im in a race with him. Im not injured but I have a sore stiff knee, a bike that needs adjustment, and a carbon tubular that needs to be stripped and trued. I keep thinking of a quote from the book version of "Silence of the lambs" about how Hannibal Lector preffered to "eat the rude", and now i can relate. The only moral I can take from this is Im glad ive been riding the EDGE wheels for the last week and had a pretty good feel for how the respond to heavy braking. If I had just thrown them on for race day im pretty sure I would ran over the kid rather than just falling on top of him.
I also keep thinking of a project that a former roomate kept trying to get going each year, early in the road season. Its a website called ICANTRIDEINAPACK.COM and I think we have our first candidate.
So it was a shock on sunday, at the first race of the year that I found myself out of the race and unable to support the team because of a crash at Marblehead. And a silly crash at that.
I think we all accept a bit of risk when we race, and there were certainly several chances to take yourself out this weekend. A car on the course that could not be cleared before the start, the famous "Marblehead Hairpin", and the rookies who are always part of mixed 4/5 fields. But I was crashed out because of someone being dumb.
CCB fields a number of Juniors and most of them are fast kids. I found myself behind one of them several times in the first half of the race and noticed that his bike was squeaky and he was not a smooth rider. A squeky bike on race day means one of 2 things, either you dont know better and dont care, or you ride too much to keep things clean. If you are on your bike 7 days a week ill forgive a dirty bike that makes some noise, but once i started seeing some of the hard cuts into the field the kid was making I was pretty sure that he was the former and that he was best avoided.
With 4 laps to go we had our first crash of the race when someone finally got sloppy near the car on the course and bounced off it, I found out later this took Gregor out of contention. At the end of the back half of the course my favorite squeaky cervelo found himself in front of me when he decided to cut in on a wheel and cause our second crash of the race. It was a typical crash. Front wheel versus rear wheel, the kid lost his front end and went down at decent speed, turning his bike sideways. A racer who had been moving up to pass us both got caught as he went down and blocked the only room I had to avoid. Being the type of person who keeps things in pretty good and functional shape, if not always perfectly clean, all my bussiness worked well and I got things stopped a couple inches from running the culprit over. But of course people behind me were less aware of what had hapened and ran into me, knocking into the crash. By the time I got up the field was a good bit ahead, but still visible. Pretty quickly i determined that everything was working, but that my shifting had bit of a delay in it, but it was minor. I chashed up, trying to catch the field as they slowed for the hairpin, but soloing into the headwind took too much and I was still by myself as I made the turn. After a hard lap of chasing I started finding wheels from others who had been involved in one of the crashes, and among them Gregor. We rode it in together, finishing the race and beating the dreaded "DNF" that would have otherwise appeared on our "road-results.com" file.
So this kid is now on the list of wheels to avoid, and hopefully give me reason to bark at the next time im in a race with him. Im not injured but I have a sore stiff knee, a bike that needs adjustment, and a carbon tubular that needs to be stripped and trued. I keep thinking of a quote from the book version of "Silence of the lambs" about how Hannibal Lector preffered to "eat the rude", and now i can relate. The only moral I can take from this is Im glad ive been riding the EDGE wheels for the last week and had a pretty good feel for how the respond to heavy braking. If I had just thrown them on for race day im pretty sure I would ran over the kid rather than just falling on top of him.
I also keep thinking of a project that a former roomate kept trying to get going each year, early in the road season. Its a website called ICANTRIDEINAPACK.COM and I think we have our first candidate.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sandbaggers in the NEWS!
Students help sandbag as river keeps rising
FARGO, N.D. - High school and college students were let out of class Monday to help with sandbagging as residents raced to hold off possible flooding on the rising Red River.
Too Good!
Drag racing
The function of sandbagging is to guarantee a win by outperforming the slower opponent at first, and then hitting the brakes near the finish line in time to just barely beat the opponent.[2] However, sandbaggers run the risk of beating their dial-in time, thus disqualifying them from the race. Sandbaggers must be experienced in controlling this technique, and therefore, it should not be attempted by beginners.[2] Sandbagging faces much criticism, as many argue that it is essentially cheating.[2] Television shows such as Pinks and bracket racing rules discourage sandbagging by creating automatic disqualification for breakouts.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Product Review/call for swag- Rapha Cap
I mentioned my "sweet prize" in the last post about the Freddy/Jason/Predator Race that happened last week. Now your going to hear all about it. As the first cycling product if bought/obtained in 2009 it will also be my first product review on this blog.First off I should say that I think of myself as a craftsman. Ive worked for Parlee (as a framebuilder) and for Seven (as a painter and finisher). Ive also built rowing shells, Kayaks and spars that in their realm are quite high end. In my current job I deal with a lot of rowing equipment that is handmade and a lot that is "manufactured", and have a good eye for thoughtful design and quality construction. I dont mind paying for quality, things like Oakley glasses and Iphones are expensive because they work better, and im fine with that.
Second, since this hat was a prize I cant say for certain that it is first quality. It is entirely possible that this is a second or a reject, and given my opinion of it i hope this is the case.
So I really wanted to like this hat. I really want Rapha clothing, which is about as high end as you can get, to be worth it. I am still looking for a pair of boots that will last me forever and hold out some hope that there is cycling apparel that will as well. After wearing it for a week and looking it over a bit in good light. I have to say i feel let down.
The design is great and the materials certainly feel high-end, but the construction just doesn't seem to be up where it ought to be if this hat is sold for $40 US.
Cycling hats are a pretty simple design and there is not many places you can make a mistake. The most obvious one on this hat though is pretty obvious. The brim isnt centered on the hat. When your only major design element is a black stripe on a white hat, you pretty much have to get this right or things look a little "off". Mine is not right, its not off by much, but its of by enought that I notice it and that means its wrong.
Inside the hat there are some stiches that are loose, loose enough that the top thread pulls through and stands out. I am guessing that with time i will start seeing the stripe lifting where the thread is loose.
I should say that functionally it is a great hat, it sits on my head and I enjoy wearing a little bit of fancy when i go for an evening ride. It has also stayed remarkably clean for a white hat that my hands have touched while i am at work.
If it saves my life or catches fire, there will be an update. As it stands I feel a little bit let down, like i just figured out Santa wasnt real. If Rapha cant make a fancy hat that impresses, who can? And if Rapha misses on hats, how nice are the $750 tweed softshells really? They take pretty pictures of some really impressive rides, and they know design. But at the end of the day, the stuff also has to work as a hat. If in fact this hat was donated as a prize because it was a second, Ill retract my sadness, and happily review any first quality product Rapha wants to send me.
Loose stiches inside the hat.
Classy branding, just enough to know who made it.
A view askew of the slanty brim.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Alleycat report. Finished in the money!
Ive already detailed the many unfair-itudes I tried to put it place to help me dominate.
Once the race got going it was the usual chaos. Checkpoint workers were late, and we got sent on a return trip to the shop from the first checkpoint after we got manifests. Of course that guy wasnt around either. I used my smarts to get in and out of that mess pretty quick, and im convinced that was the key move of the race for me.
Matt A. also on the CB team and Matt Bud, of embrocation got back to the return about the same time as I did, and we grouped up like a bunch of pack filler on a breakaway. I knew how to get to 1.5 of the checkpoints and Matt A was pretty solid on the other 1.5 so we got to haulin. Like any proper sandbagger I did a minimum of work at the front. Of the 3 of us, Matt Bud was the only one with Gears, so he did the lions share of the work. Matt A was fixed and lost something whenever we hit anykind of elevation. I was pretty pleased with all my brakes and coasting, especially on the long run down Washington in brookline and market street into the watertown stop.
At the last checkpoint I did the hail marry of bike racing, Once I knew where i was going and that I wasnt screwing the Matt's too bad on directions. I did my best to take off, figuring I didnt have much of a shot in a sprint, a long solo run back into central sq seemed my only shot at winning my breakaway. I was pretty sure we were close to the front of the race, if not the leaders. Well, Matt Bud caught me at the Cambridge line. When I could I tried a couple more times to get clear of him. But if bike racing is an armsrace, Matt won with a pretty nice roadbike (self built! check out his stuff here). Each time i went out he caught and came around. I almost nipped him when he dropped a ulock a couple blocks from the shop, but like a pro, he kept his eye on the prize and left it.
When we hit the shop Bud had a good gap, but I was right behind. I gather that we were a few minutes behind the winners, but 3rd for Matt and 4th for me was good enough to put me in the money (or in this case the Rapha swag)!
I won this! The finest cycling hat with a slanty brim money can buy!
Proof that even when you dont win Sandbagging pays off!
Once the race got going it was the usual chaos. Checkpoint workers were late, and we got sent on a return trip to the shop from the first checkpoint after we got manifests. Of course that guy wasnt around either. I used my smarts to get in and out of that mess pretty quick, and im convinced that was the key move of the race for me.
Matt A. also on the CB team and Matt Bud, of embrocation got back to the return about the same time as I did, and we grouped up like a bunch of pack filler on a breakaway. I knew how to get to 1.5 of the checkpoints and Matt A was pretty solid on the other 1.5 so we got to haulin. Like any proper sandbagger I did a minimum of work at the front. Of the 3 of us, Matt Bud was the only one with Gears, so he did the lions share of the work. Matt A was fixed and lost something whenever we hit anykind of elevation. I was pretty pleased with all my brakes and coasting, especially on the long run down Washington in brookline and market street into the watertown stop.
At the last checkpoint I did the hail marry of bike racing, Once I knew where i was going and that I wasnt screwing the Matt's too bad on directions. I did my best to take off, figuring I didnt have much of a shot in a sprint, a long solo run back into central sq seemed my only shot at winning my breakaway. I was pretty sure we were close to the front of the race, if not the leaders. Well, Matt Bud caught me at the Cambridge line. When I could I tried a couple more times to get clear of him. But if bike racing is an armsrace, Matt won with a pretty nice roadbike (self built! check out his stuff here). Each time i went out he caught and came around. I almost nipped him when he dropped a ulock a couple blocks from the shop, but like a pro, he kept his eye on the prize and left it.
When we hit the shop Bud had a good gap, but I was right behind. I gather that we were a few minutes behind the winners, but 3rd for Matt and 4th for me was good enough to put me in the money (or in this case the Rapha swag)!
I won this! The finest cycling hat with a slanty brim money can buy!
Proof that even when you dont win Sandbagging pays off!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Operation Sandbag: mission 1
Last night I emerged from my warrior lifestyle of trainer riding, component upgrading and dog-frisbee throwing to test my progress towards the ultimate goal of Cat 4 dominence.
Cambridge Bikes, along with other sponsors, put on the first big alleycat of the year (well... the first big one i went to, sorry Jacob). Freddy vs. Jason was to be my first test and an ultimate indicator of whether I have a shot at using real training and high end equipment to defeat people who take racing less seriously than I do. This would be the first unlevel playing field i would attempt to compete in in 2009.
I would ensure that the odds were stacked in my favor in 4 key areas, here we go.
Training
Ive been following the Pete Smith plan for cycling success since January, without doing the math I can confidently say ive got more time in the saddle this off season than i had the entire cross season. Whats the competition at FreddyVJason been doing? Buying and selling anodized components on the Forums no doubt, and occasionally riding on warm sunday afternoons.
Equpiment
While most racers would be riding Brakeless fixed gears, I would be competing with EXTRA brakes. One thing ive learned from watching motorcycle racing is that better brakes make you faster, and we all know 2 brakes are better than none. I also took a gamble and decided/didnt have any other parts, to use a relatively light single speed gearing, 34x14 (65 gear inches for the track nerds). So i could keep speed up going up hill, coast and rest going downhill and had some getup and go away from lights. All in all I thinking I had gear much better suited than my competitors for this race. I toyed with riding a roadbike, but thought that would blow my lowprofile, since my roadbike is a custom carbon PARLEE. I think little touches are important as well, clipless pedals over fancy double strap cages, bib shorts under appropriate working class dickies and hot pads in my shoes. I might even go so far as you use sports nutrition before and during this relatively unimportant race.
Research
Knowing that alleycats are typically pretty simplistic in their themes. I spent a good chunk of my lunch break trying to googlemaps all the Elm streets in town, and also bone up on applicible movie trivia (sadly ive never seen either the first friday the 13th of the first nightmare on elm street). I was confident that my knowledge of the actual address of the titular nightmare would come in handy.
Cheating
Once you've done a few alleycats you realize how much the "rules" announced at the start are really just guidelines. People are late to their checkpoints, one way signs are inconvenient, and if you are smart you can cut in line to get a manifest signed. I wont go into details, but aside from saying i will go to all the addresses on the manifest, im making no promises.
I know the public is clamoring for updates to this blog, so I will post this pre-game show now (clearly its being posted post-game though) and load up some pictures and a full report soon.
Good to see everyone playing bikes last night though!
Cambridge Bikes, along with other sponsors, put on the first big alleycat of the year (well... the first big one i went to, sorry Jacob). Freddy vs. Jason was to be my first test and an ultimate indicator of whether I have a shot at using real training and high end equipment to defeat people who take racing less seriously than I do. This would be the first unlevel playing field i would attempt to compete in in 2009.
I would ensure that the odds were stacked in my favor in 4 key areas, here we go.
Training
Ive been following the Pete Smith plan for cycling success since January, without doing the math I can confidently say ive got more time in the saddle this off season than i had the entire cross season. Whats the competition at FreddyVJason been doing? Buying and selling anodized components on the Forums no doubt, and occasionally riding on warm sunday afternoons.
Equpiment
While most racers would be riding Brakeless fixed gears, I would be competing with EXTRA brakes. One thing ive learned from watching motorcycle racing is that better brakes make you faster, and we all know 2 brakes are better than none. I also took a gamble and decided/didnt have any other parts, to use a relatively light single speed gearing, 34x14 (65 gear inches for the track nerds). So i could keep speed up going up hill, coast and rest going downhill and had some getup and go away from lights. All in all I thinking I had gear much better suited than my competitors for this race. I toyed with riding a roadbike, but thought that would blow my lowprofile, since my roadbike is a custom carbon PARLEE. I think little touches are important as well, clipless pedals over fancy double strap cages, bib shorts under appropriate working class dickies and hot pads in my shoes. I might even go so far as you use sports nutrition before and during this relatively unimportant race.
Research
Knowing that alleycats are typically pretty simplistic in their themes. I spent a good chunk of my lunch break trying to googlemaps all the Elm streets in town, and also bone up on applicible movie trivia (sadly ive never seen either the first friday the 13th of the first nightmare on elm street). I was confident that my knowledge of the actual address of the titular nightmare would come in handy.
Cheating
Once you've done a few alleycats you realize how much the "rules" announced at the start are really just guidelines. People are late to their checkpoints, one way signs are inconvenient, and if you are smart you can cut in line to get a manifest signed. I wont go into details, but aside from saying i will go to all the addresses on the manifest, im making no promises.
I know the public is clamoring for updates to this blog, so I will post this pre-game show now (clearly its being posted post-game though) and load up some pictures and a full report soon.
Good to see everyone playing bikes last night though!
Sunday, February 1, 2009
lessons from sun tzu
The victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
- Sun Tzu
Recently Gary was asking about what road races to register for now. RMM suggested that it was most important to register early, thus to intimidate your enemies/crossresults nemesis. That by "calling your shots" if you will, you stand to win.
I disagree, and I can site my sources! The true path of the sandbagger is not to win through intimidation, at least not until you become known as a sandbagger. The key is to win by choosing your battles.
ah so!
At the heart of it, sandbagging is only racing when you know everyone faster than you is racing at 1pm. Of course the most important part of this is to never ever upgrade, but still train like a cat 3. But more subtle is the art of the pre-reg. One must always know thy enemy and the crucial advantage of bike-reg is the confirmed rider list.
As an up and coming sandbagger I plan to always wait until the last minute, to better know who i must defeat. Should a stronger opponent register, the better part of sandbagging valor is of course to feign prior comitment and not enter. Since if I wanted to challenge myself by racing faster people, of course I would upgrade.
The only flaw of course is the "ebay sniping connundrum" Should many skilled sandbaggers be active in one area, there may be a flury of last minute registration from many skilled sandbaggers. Thus the key to victory is not how hard one races, but how well timed one's bikereg.com skills become.
- Sun Tzu
Recently Gary was asking about what road races to register for now. RMM suggested that it was most important to register early, thus to intimidate your enemies/crossresults nemesis. That by "calling your shots" if you will, you stand to win.
I disagree, and I can site my sources! The true path of the sandbagger is not to win through intimidation, at least not until you become known as a sandbagger. The key is to win by choosing your battles.
ah so!
At the heart of it, sandbagging is only racing when you know everyone faster than you is racing at 1pm. Of course the most important part of this is to never ever upgrade, but still train like a cat 3. But more subtle is the art of the pre-reg. One must always know thy enemy and the crucial advantage of bike-reg is the confirmed rider list.
As an up and coming sandbagger I plan to always wait until the last minute, to better know who i must defeat. Should a stronger opponent register, the better part of sandbagging valor is of course to feign prior comitment and not enter. Since if I wanted to challenge myself by racing faster people, of course I would upgrade.
The only flaw of course is the "ebay sniping connundrum" Should many skilled sandbaggers be active in one area, there may be a flury of last minute registration from many skilled sandbaggers. Thus the key to victory is not how hard one races, but how well timed one's bikereg.com skills become.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
cross training for cross
As any good sandbagger will tell you, it takes commitment to win races. Commitment to stubbornly avoid facing people who are faster than and commitment to train enough to dominate lower catagories once the season starts. In that spirit, I did not take a long weekend out of town to relax, I took a trip to vermont in order to "cross train"!
It is incredibly important to realize that even thought the afternoon Dorothy and I spent Nordic Skiing at the Trapp Family lodge was fun (yes "those" von trapps, though none of them were singing when we were there) for it to count i have to define it as cross training. And lucky I did or i would have needed to bring a bike up and figure out how to ride for 3 hours in the fresh snow we got that morning.
I have to say it was nice to find something that we can do together without fighting. we have never been able to really bike together. I always want to go faster or longer and she just wants to enjoy it. But nordic skiing seems to be something that since neither of us have any real skill at, we both enjoy without me getting aggravated. And lets face it, its totally my fault that we cant bike together.
Trapp Family lodge is one of the bougie-er places to ski nordic. There is a nice lodge and very fancy hotel with a resturant featuring harpists and such, if you are into that sort of thing. The Nordic lodge has rentals and also "demos" for nicer equipment. Trails are groomed, which may not be in the true spirit of cross country skiing, but made it easy for rookies like us. Best of all its CHEAP! We were able to borrow skis and boots from my family and spent less than 40 dollars on 2 trail passes. When ever I go downhill skiing the last few years ive really felt like its just a waste of money, especially on busy days when you end up waiting on line for lifts half the time. It was refreshing to be at a place where it was un-pretentious, un-crowded and everyone on skiis was friendly and said hello. I imagine downhill skiing must have been similar 20 years ago.
We mounted up on our skis and made a pass of the practice field to get a feel for things, and then set off on "sugar road" which was a nice flat wide trail with groomed in tracks through the woods. We felt pretty confident at the end of the road and kept going on an intermediate trail aiming for "the cabin" where there were rumors of hot cocoa. We pretty quickly realized that nordic trails are judged as much for how much work they are as how technical they can be. There were a number of climbs that left both of us duck-walking uphill. We got a bout an hour and a half out and realized that he cabin was closed and it was getting dark. Then we learned the real challenge of Nordic skiing. All the climbing we had been doing was now a lot of fast descending. Both of us were competent snow-plowers, but pretty quickly we were on hills that overpowered our stopping power. It was clear at several points that short of bailing off the trail, we weren't going to be stopping ourselves, so the goal became to stay on the trail. It was like a snowy, cold version of the mine car ride in temple of doom! But no-one died, or really even fell down that hard. so I guess it was a success.
Im hoping to do some more nordic skiing this winter. Only if its "cross training" though. I cant afford to be wasting my time goofing off!
It is incredibly important to realize that even thought the afternoon Dorothy and I spent Nordic Skiing at the Trapp Family lodge was fun (yes "those" von trapps, though none of them were singing when we were there) for it to count i have to define it as cross training. And lucky I did or i would have needed to bring a bike up and figure out how to ride for 3 hours in the fresh snow we got that morning.
I have to say it was nice to find something that we can do together without fighting. we have never been able to really bike together. I always want to go faster or longer and she just wants to enjoy it. But nordic skiing seems to be something that since neither of us have any real skill at, we both enjoy without me getting aggravated. And lets face it, its totally my fault that we cant bike together.
Trapp Family lodge is one of the bougie-er places to ski nordic. There is a nice lodge and very fancy hotel with a resturant featuring harpists and such, if you are into that sort of thing. The Nordic lodge has rentals and also "demos" for nicer equipment. Trails are groomed, which may not be in the true spirit of cross country skiing, but made it easy for rookies like us. Best of all its CHEAP! We were able to borrow skis and boots from my family and spent less than 40 dollars on 2 trail passes. When ever I go downhill skiing the last few years ive really felt like its just a waste of money, especially on busy days when you end up waiting on line for lifts half the time. It was refreshing to be at a place where it was un-pretentious, un-crowded and everyone on skiis was friendly and said hello. I imagine downhill skiing must have been similar 20 years ago.
We mounted up on our skis and made a pass of the practice field to get a feel for things, and then set off on "sugar road" which was a nice flat wide trail with groomed in tracks through the woods. We felt pretty confident at the end of the road and kept going on an intermediate trail aiming for "the cabin" where there were rumors of hot cocoa. We pretty quickly realized that nordic trails are judged as much for how much work they are as how technical they can be. There were a number of climbs that left both of us duck-walking uphill. We got a bout an hour and a half out and realized that he cabin was closed and it was getting dark. Then we learned the real challenge of Nordic skiing. All the climbing we had been doing was now a lot of fast descending. Both of us were competent snow-plowers, but pretty quickly we were on hills that overpowered our stopping power. It was clear at several points that short of bailing off the trail, we weren't going to be stopping ourselves, so the goal became to stay on the trail. It was like a snowy, cold version of the mine car ride in temple of doom! But no-one died, or really even fell down that hard. so I guess it was a success.
Im hoping to do some more nordic skiing this winter. Only if its "cross training" though. I cant afford to be wasting my time goofing off!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Coming out...
Parts have been procured to convert my cross bike into single speed. Im hoping that this is the first step towards a shiny new race bike for cross this fall. This first spiritual step, sacrificing the ability to shift. Once I dont "have a cross bike anymore" it will be easier to justify to myself that i need to buy a new one. Igleheart even offered to start me on a payment plan for next fall.
Ive been thinking for a while i needed a better race bike. I've been riding on a Mudhoney that I got while I was working at Seven Cycles. Its a nice bike, and I cant complain about it being Ti. But I agreed to some things in the design that Now that ive been racing a while, I shouln't have. The most annoying one is the sloping top tube. It closes up the front triangle enough that I cant cleanly shoulder the bike. Its something I notice every race and Ive had to learn how to shoulder the bike "wrong" to deal with it. Second is toe overlap. It hasnt happened every race, but it has happened enough that ive gone down several times. Slow speed manuevering + toe strike on tire = me on the ground, annoyed. I really only have myself to blame. No-one at Seven has really designed a proper race bike for cross. Their system is aimed at high end race bikes and almost race bikes. So all of their bikes are pretty close in terms of lengths and angles. If that the bike you want, your in good shape. But I definitely noticed that "track frames" that came though the system were basically crit geometry with track drops. So when the design came back and I had yet to race cross, i didnt think that having toe overlap on a cross bike would be any worse than having it on my track frame. My Track bike is basicly a crit bike and it works for me, so why not just lengthen the chain stays for cross, right?
Well now I know better, and luckily the rack mounts I speced on my seven means i have a very nice touring bike. Although at the moment there is a single-ator and some studed tires in that frames future.
Ive already started the list for the new igleheart, in addition to toe overlap and level top tube. Ive taken a real shine to the Break-away system, after flying with the seven to the west coast and racing out there, I think a foldable bike could be a hot ticket!
Ive been thinking for a while i needed a better race bike. I've been riding on a Mudhoney that I got while I was working at Seven Cycles. Its a nice bike, and I cant complain about it being Ti. But I agreed to some things in the design that Now that ive been racing a while, I shouln't have. The most annoying one is the sloping top tube. It closes up the front triangle enough that I cant cleanly shoulder the bike. Its something I notice every race and Ive had to learn how to shoulder the bike "wrong" to deal with it. Second is toe overlap. It hasnt happened every race, but it has happened enough that ive gone down several times. Slow speed manuevering + toe strike on tire = me on the ground, annoyed. I really only have myself to blame. No-one at Seven has really designed a proper race bike for cross. Their system is aimed at high end race bikes and almost race bikes. So all of their bikes are pretty close in terms of lengths and angles. If that the bike you want, your in good shape. But I definitely noticed that "track frames" that came though the system were basically crit geometry with track drops. So when the design came back and I had yet to race cross, i didnt think that having toe overlap on a cross bike would be any worse than having it on my track frame. My Track bike is basicly a crit bike and it works for me, so why not just lengthen the chain stays for cross, right?
Well now I know better, and luckily the rack mounts I speced on my seven means i have a very nice touring bike. Although at the moment there is a single-ator and some studed tires in that frames future.
Ive already started the list for the new igleheart, in addition to toe overlap and level top tube. Ive taken a real shine to the Break-away system, after flying with the seven to the west coast and racing out there, I think a foldable bike could be a hot ticket!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
"Road to Hell" just boring bike porn.
At least thats what it is when you are doing a long trainer workout.
The crew met on saturday for the inagural "tour d'DVD" at Jill's loft in Southie. There was struting in suprisingly clean spandex as well as some light stretching of excuses, overheard...
"I havnt been on my bike in 3 weeks."
"I dont know how to ride rollers."
"its just a slow leak"
"the software is calibrated for the wrong weight."
despite many of us preparing to fail, as they say. Everyone survived and made it over the "col de first workout". Helping us through was Natalia's collection of bike nerd DVD's. for the first 90 minutes we tried to get into "sunday in hell", the epic tale of Eddy Mercx not winning the Paris-Roubaix. Despite my own bike-nerdery i couldnt get into it. The footage was beautiful and it was great to see so many hard men rocking/running down tube shifters and wool jeresys, but amid all the long slow shots of the caravan behind some spring wheat and Team Peugot turning heavy gears on the cobbles, I kept thinking..."Ive only been on this trainer for 20 minutes?!" I think that I need something more distracting than an art-doc if all im doing is 2 hours at 65%. We tried Kill Bill for the last 30 minutes, but it turns out that Quintin Tarantino makes really talky movies, they just happen to have some violence in between all the clever "tete-a-tete".
In any case 1 brick in the wall, by base has begun. This morning I made it 2 days in a row with the help of a made for sci-fi channel miniseries "tin-man". Steampunk-porn is way better than bike porn if your just sitting on a trainer. Zoey Deschanel doesnt hurt either.
This week I will need to find my way to the used dvd-ateria. I think the work of Sir Bruce Willis will do nicely to get me into the indoor riding season. Otherwise i may have to (GASP!) man up and start riding outside.
The crew met on saturday for the inagural "tour d'DVD" at Jill's loft in Southie. There was struting in suprisingly clean spandex as well as some light stretching of excuses, overheard...
"I havnt been on my bike in 3 weeks."
"I dont know how to ride rollers."
"its just a slow leak"
"the software is calibrated for the wrong weight."
despite many of us preparing to fail, as they say. Everyone survived and made it over the "col de first workout". Helping us through was Natalia's collection of bike nerd DVD's. for the first 90 minutes we tried to get into "sunday in hell", the epic tale of Eddy Mercx not winning the Paris-Roubaix. Despite my own bike-nerdery i couldnt get into it. The footage was beautiful and it was great to see so many hard men rocking/running down tube shifters and wool jeresys, but amid all the long slow shots of the caravan behind some spring wheat and Team Peugot turning heavy gears on the cobbles, I kept thinking..."Ive only been on this trainer for 20 minutes?!" I think that I need something more distracting than an art-doc if all im doing is 2 hours at 65%. We tried Kill Bill for the last 30 minutes, but it turns out that Quintin Tarantino makes really talky movies, they just happen to have some violence in between all the clever "tete-a-tete".
In any case 1 brick in the wall, by base has begun. This morning I made it 2 days in a row with the help of a made for sci-fi channel miniseries "tin-man". Steampunk-porn is way better than bike porn if your just sitting on a trainer. Zoey Deschanel doesnt hurt either.
This week I will need to find my way to the used dvd-ateria. I think the work of Sir Bruce Willis will do nicely to get me into the indoor riding season. Otherwise i may have to (GASP!) man up and start riding outside.
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