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!