Boston Beantpot 2015 - Tufts Crit 4/5

After getting pretty excited for the Marblehead Circuit race featuring a pretty good-sized FitWerx team, and being very disappointed when the race was cancelled, I had to find something to do, so I quickly signed up for the race at Tufts.  Racing in my old hood seemed like it would be fun experience, and I convinced my wife to bring the whole family down to watch the race, which is a rare occurrence. 
Saturday was a snowy mess which I found out mid-rice on my CX bike (fortunately I was on knobbies), so I had to smile when I looked at the forecast for the following day, 40 deg and sunny.  I had looked at the course online, it was a short loop with the longest straight-away being along Professors Row and the Tennis courts.  I assumed the course was going clockwise, and with the predicted 5mph west wind, I thought there was a chance to get off the front with a tail wind on the straight.  On the drive down to the race, the flags on the buildings on the side of the road confirmed the direction, and it looked as if it was even a bit stronger.  This wasn't a key race for me, but rather a chance to get in a good workout, and get some elbow to elbow riding under my belt for the season.  I had a pretty good, in my inexperienced opinion, strategy of attacking from the start, and then if that didn't work, continuing to attack as often as possible.  That would serve two purposes, one would be to get in a proper workout, and second, might actually get me a win.  Since my Cat 3 upgrade was denied, I was hoping for a little vindication.  As it turns out, my strategy worked, as you shall see.
It's been nearly 5 years since I lived in Somerville, but it felt good to be home.  I wasn't a cyclist other than as a commuter on my beach cruiser back in the day, but I couldn't help but feel some sort of happiness about living on the North Shore now where the roads are in decent shape (relatively), and there are way less cars.  Being a bike racer in Somerville would be tough.  I parked at the bottom of the second turn and got a great parking spot, with a view of the race.  I was surprised to see the College A ladies come down the hill, that meant I was wrong about the direction of the race, which would turn out to be critical.
I rode up to the start, registered, and found out the field was 45 guys.  I ran into Ernest Gagnon, and introduced myself.  I've seen him around and follow his posts on how he's using cycling to battle a lifelong struggle with obesity.  If you haven't read his post on The Spandex Theory, you should, and if you see him at a race, introduce yourself.  He's at pretty much every race and we can all use all the support we can get.  I went back to the car to change and watched two races unfold, and it was pretty clear that the wind was going to play a big part, but it wasn't until I got on the course to do a practice loop how much a factor it would play.  My memory of the roads had faded a bit, and they were way steeper than I had expected.  It ended up being a pretty exciting course to race.  It was really fast on the downhill and through the left/right/left turns.  The 2nd to last turn went immediately into a steep kicker, and into another left turn onto the finishing straight, that was a pretty nasty false flat, adding to that was a significant headwind.  That explains why it looked like some of the earlier races were slow-pedaling that stretch, they weren't, it was that windy and uphill.  The road on the kicker was really beat up, and there were three cobble crosswalks on the finishing straight that were knocking people about.
All this data made me even more convinced that my strategy of attacking from the start, cross-style, was the right way to go.  I had seen a bunch of riders pulled from previous races.  There didn't seem to be much room for making up seconds on people because of the headwind on the straight, and the tight turns on the backside.  I managed to get a front row starting position, 2nd from the left.  I was pretty happy with the spot, I could race out of the blocks, get around the first corner in the top 5 and see how things worked out.  Perfect strategy, which actually played out perfectly, just not for me.  When the whistle went, I struggled to get my right shoe clipped in.  I had visions of my first Gloucester Grand Prix, 3rd row start, where failure to clip in meant lantern rouging the hole.  I managed to get clipped in and sprinted to the corner and came around it in about 15th place.  The steep downhill didn't make for much room to pass, I managed to get around one guy, and two more after going through the second corner, but the race was already strung out and the two GLV guys at the front had at least a bike length on the 3rd place rider.  I haven't raced many crits, and none like this one.  This race was so much like a cross race that it was eerie.  I don't think I ever saw a "group" of riders.  It was always strung out.  I managed to get into a chase group of 10 or so guys, and worked my way near the front.  Everyone was going hard up the kicker, and into the straight, and because the wind was so strong, if you lost the wheel in front of you, you were lost.  It meant that you had to be very careful who you were behind, because if they lost the wheel, you did too.  Which is precisely what happened about 5 laps in when another two guys got a gap on the chasers.  My kids were just before the first corner, calling out time splits, and the leaders were already 25 secs up.  No doubt because they were cornering at full speed.  This race was very suspect to getting stuck behind a rider who couldn't corner fast and losing the wheel, and then never being able to close it.  Again, if you were behind that rider, you were in trouble.   I got to the front of my group of chasers and tried to bridge to the two guys that had gotten a gap.  I didn't want to race for 5th, and I thought I could close it.  I spent 3 laps at the front trying to close, and managed to get them close, and flicked the elbow to get people to pull through and help, but no one did.  As I slid to the back of our group of 7, I watched the two guys ride away with sadness (me, not them).
What I hadn't noticed during my cross-eyed closing excursion, was that our group was at about 7, and I couldn't see anyone else behind us.  I had noticed one of my buddies, Chad from Blue Hills, on the side of the finish line and had thought he had a mechanical.  A couple of laps later, I saw Jon, also from Blue Hills, who is a very strong (and has better points than me) cat 4 rider, on the side of the road.  I would later find out that of the 44 starters, only 9 finished.  Everyone else was pulled.  It was that kind of race.  Looking back, when I saw them in the 3rd row at the start, I hadn't realized that they were in trouble from the get go.
The first time I looked at the lap cards, there were 12 laps to go.  I don't remember hearing any bells for primes, but we were so far behind the leaders, 40s at one point according to my kids, still calling out the gaps.  Were they rubbing it in?  I tried to smile to them.  They were right by the first turn, so the painful false flat and kicker made way to getting ready for the first turn, so I don't think they saw the suffering going on.  From that point on, I was working with the group, but we didn't seem to make a lot of progress.  I think it was a mixed group in terms of strength, some guys could draft and keep pace, but weren't strong enough to pull.  When I was at the front, I would try to drop the weaker ones on the kicker and straight.  The guy that ended up getting 5th was strong and savvy.  He made an attempt to bridge, which I went with, but we never really dropped everyone.  I think he rode smarter for 5th than I did, conserving energy earlier on, but I was more concerned about trying to catch the 3/4 placed riders.  With 5 laps to go, I was sitting 3rd wheel in our group, resting and plotting the finish.  The guy at the front from Blue Hills seemed happy to be at the front, and was still pushing the pace on the kicker.  My plan was to sit on wheels, up the hill, up the false flat, and take my chances in a sprint.  As we approached the kicker, I was right on the wheel of 2nd.  As we rounded the corner, the BHCC rider attacked it hard and got a small gap, I saw this, but was poorly placed, and had to come around the outside of 2nd to try and keep up.  Meanwhile, the guy in 4th took an insider route and came through at speed and bridged to the BHCC guy's wheel.  As I watched them pull away, I started my sprint just to try and get on their wheels.  With the headwind, we were still a long way from the line.  I couldn't bridge the gap, but sprinted in for 7th.  Kudos to the BHCC rider for taking 3 laps on the front and still being able to attack.  I paid the power price for some earlier efforts trying to bridge to the 2nd group.  The 4th wheel who came around the inside took the line in our group sprint.  In the final results, it looks like GLV did a great job off the front from the start of the race, winning by 30s.  I feel like I should have been in that group, it was a winning strategy on the day. The second group lost a guy and he got the same time as our group with a 4th.  I was really a second or two behind 5th and 6th, but the kind USAC judges gave me the same time. 
I was absolutely shelled at the end, so I achieved my one goal of getting a good workout.  My power profile read like a normal crit, bull horn ends of the power spectrum.  I spent 9:18 at 435+ watts, well above my V02 max.  My power output looked very similar to the Exeter Masters 1-4 crit I raced, but somehow it felt way way harder.  At Exeter, it was the same time at neuromuscular, but 2 less minutes at Anaerobic, and 1 less minute at VO2 max, and that must have been the difference in how tired I felt.  It was great to have the kids out to watch me race.  I smiled at them in every corner, and enjoyed the time gaps, even when the next morning my 7yr old son asked me "Dad, when I was calling out the time, and it was 30 seconds, why didn't you just try harder?".  Wait til he starts racing.
 

@SenTedCruz - Displaying a deep knowledge of big issues in a mere 140 characters

I dont know if there's any chance Mr. Cruz reads this, but he should.  His tweet illustrates his ignorance on the subject.  Most likely, one of his aides tweeted it, and he doesn't even know exactly what he just said (but that wouldn't really be different than a politician trying to remember what he said a year ago). Regardless, its his name its tweeted under and is exactly what we don't need in a legitimate debate, rhetoric.  I'll tell exactly what Net Neutrality is not, its not Obamacare, its not the War on Drugs, its not 1000 Points of Light, its not I did not have sex with that woman, and its not No New Taxes.  It has nothing to do with red or blue (or someday hopefully another color so we actually have some choice).  It has everything to do with not letting a business, for whatever reason, be able to Big Brother peoples access to information.  Okay, so they already Big Brother it, but at least let it flow as you monitor it; if I pay for 30mps down, I should get that from wherever I request data from, not just "[Insert your provider] friendly sites".  Lastly, many people dont have options of which provider to use, which makes things worse,  Not having a choice is not freedom.

The Oatmeal attempts to understand the rationale, and gives a bare-bones, simple explanation of what Net Neutrality here.

2014 Orchard Cross Race Report

Cornfields And Apple Orchards

I'm due for a bunch of race reports for this season, but this past weekend was pretty special and so its getting the treatment first.  Orchard Cross at Applecrest Farms is one of the special races of the season on the North Shore.  It doesn't have the pageantry or pedigree of Gloucester, and is not part of the "Holy Week of Cyclocross", but it is my favorite race of the season.  Lets face it, I'm never going to race UCI, and so points and series standings don't matter to me. Like most people who race CX, the thing that matters is fun.  Friends matter, bikes matter, smiling faces matter, cider donuts, and pumpkins, and mud, and berms, and barriers, and cowbells, definitely cowbells matter.  Orchard Cross is the epitome of all these things.  Orchard Cross has the luxury of locale, and timing, being so very close to Halloween, and at the start of fall, and makes the most of it.   Every year, the staff that puts on Orchard Cross has stepped it up and made the event even better.  Last year, I didn't even race, but I brought the family to enjoy the fun, but I digress, this is the 2014 instalment of Orchard Cross.. so lets get going...


The initial plans for OCX were for me to bring three of my kids to the race.  One is now riding with the ECV junior cubs program, made up primarily of Ipswich kids, and managed by Dan Donovan.  Its amazing how much more fun he has when D is riding with other kids than riding with me.  I'll try not to take it personally.  Unfortunately my middle kids, H and C, had a birthday party to attend at Sky High Trampolines, and for a 7 yr old, it's no competition, trampolines or CX.  Hopefully they'll get their priorities in the right place.  Sky high will be there next week guys.  The reality is that my CX future depends heavily on whether I can bring the kids, so Saturday morning saw me up bright and early making egg sandwiches, packing the cooler, making a travel cup of coffee, and getting the car loaded while D slept.  We headed up from Ipswich at 7:20 to get to Hampton Falls early enough to pre ride the course.  We jumped onto the back side of the course from the parking area, an immediately hit what D decided was his favorite feature of this years course, the "bmx berms".  I'm not sure what the official name was, but Cowbell Corner (which was spray painted in Ipswich Orange on the course) was a feature cut through a two story mound of dirt to create a massive left and then right berm with a little table top at the end, right in front of the announcer and start line.  Previously known for its brutal off-camber and run ups on the far side of the course, this added a marquee feature right where the crowds gather for OCX.  We then followed the course away from the barns as it weaved in and out of the apple trees with a light mist lifting from the leaves.  The course include a lot of turns, with only a few straight-away power sections.  There were sneaky apple branches, some of which had been tied with CX tape, but I later saw a few kits that had lost the battle, likely after a few laps at max HR.  The backside of the course was feature rich, with a nasty forced run-up around a rope swing, followed by an off camber section and another forced run up that took a pound of flesh from the 3/4 womens field.  Both of the run-ups had a steep descent section that D had to muster the courage to drop in.  It reminded me of the first time I dropped into a half-pipe on my skateboard, terrifying and exhilarating at the same time.  The course then had a split whoopdiedo section where you could go left or right, followed by a 120 degree turn and a steep kicker (run-up for the juniors, and some of the 4/5 fields) before heading back into the orchards.  As a CX dad, the whole set of features worried me as at least half, including my boy, of the junior's fields ride mountain bikes, which are heavy beasts.  By this point, they were calling a few minutes to the start of racing so D and I quickly finished up the course and headed to registration. This is where the fun began.

D and I went to register, and I realized that his license is pending (so much paperwork), and the staff very eagle-eyed had noticed that I signed up for the Masters 40+ 1/2/3 but my license says 4. I was planning on upgrading after Gloucester but my 32th place finish (a different race report), plus travel for work, but hadn't put it it in.  So I tried to "accident" my way into the masters field knowing I'd be struggling to just hang on the back.  But the jig was up.  I got help from a race official that approved D's entry into the juniors, and that was the most important, so we resolved that and he went to race. 

ECV Cubs

The ECV juniors represented 8 of the 25 racers in the field, and the parents were out in force.  I must have ran a mile or two following all the kids around the course taking photos, cheering, and otherwise being "that dad".  I was really proud of all the ECV kids.  It was a truly difficult 2 laps for them, especially the younger ones who had real difficulty with the run-ups.  There was some serious dragging of bikes, but the juniors, ECV or not, all had smiles on their faces.  The guy on the bullhorn at the barriers said it best, "some of these kids are carrying bikes half their weight over barriers that are waist high for them."  D finished 21/25 and said "That was so hard, but so awesome, can we go get a donut now?". Kids are awesome.

After getting D his donut and a cider, I headed back to the reg tent to figure out my situation.  I waitlisted for the 4/5 40+ men, and the 3/4 men.  The former was the next race, and the latter was 2.5 hours later.  When the race director said she had a number for me for the earlier race, I grabbed it and raced to the car to get out of my street clothes and into my kit.  The later race would have been trouble, as I had to be on a flight to NY at 7pm, plus I had DVR'd the Pats and needed to get that in before I left.  In about 10 minutes, I was in my kit and staged in my field about 6 rows back.  I'd been fortunate to have had first row starting positions for the other 2 races I did this year, and being 6 rows back was new ground, penance for my licensing failures.  I was staged at the right most, and would be remiss if I didn't mention that the 5th row wasn't defending his spot well, so by the time the whistle blew, I was racing from 4th row.  I passed as many people as I could before we got to the hole, and had about 15 guys in front of me as we thinned and hit the narrow sections of the course.  After the bmx section, I came in very hot into the next sharp turn towards the orchards and ended up having to tripod and skid through the corner; I watched disheartened as the front of the field get away from me as I regained speed and struggled to find room to pass guys in front of me.  I made a concerted effort to sprint in the straights and get some spots back.  My lack of racing this year was apparent when I did my first dismount up the forced run up and came to a complete halt.  I made it through the rest of the first lap without incident and managed to come through the finish line in sight of the 10 leaders.  The second lap was an effective time trial, applying as much steady power as I could while maintaining as much speed through the turns as I could.  I picked up a few more spots, an as I went through the finish line for the second time, I heard the announcer say that my number 390 was not on his list, and that I might not have been in the right race.  By the third lap, I was ready to be done.  This is the point in the race, where it hurts a lot, and wherever you are in the race, unless you're with a tight group, its hard to see your place changing, but as we reached the backside of the course and the technical features, I had found my dismount and remount skill, and had made up ground and had the front of the field at least in view.   I managed to pick a bunch of spots and passed the 4th and 3rd placed riders in that last section with 2 guys still in front of me and riding together.  That gave me hope, and a goal, to try and pull back the two leaders.  The third lap was punctuated with the support I had from some friends along the course cheering me on, as well as the announcer, who seemed pretty impressed that I had started so far back and managed to have pulled myself near the front.  The leader had managed a few second gap on the 2nd place rider, who I caught on the forced run up.  I settled in on his wheel through the features hoping to find a place to pass.  As we came out of the whoops, I think we both kind of let the leader go, as I was concerned with figuring out the pass, and he was likely concerned about not letting me pass. The turns near the end made it difficult to pass, and he blocked one of my attempts to come around.  I sat on his wheel a bit trying to store up some energy for the finish.  I had planned to try and pass as we approached the barriers.  I watched where he was going, and when he made his decision on where to go, I accelerated and dismounted and tried to pass.  I manage to end up even with him through the barriers. 
I've often though of how important dismounting and remounting are in the greater scheme of things.  In a 45 minute race, how much could a good vs a bad remount really be?  Well I was about to find out.  When we both came across the barriers, I went to remount.  I have this stupid little stutter step that I do.  Not sure why, never really thought it was a big deal, but the stutter step remount caused a little issue and I couldn't get clipped in immediately, and so my move to attack was thwarted and I had to ride from behind.  I tried to stick his wheel, and then come around in the last 200m, but it was too little too late, and he out-sprinted me for 2nd.  Later, at the podium ceremony, I found out it was his 120th race, and his first podium, so he had something to fight for.  I'm glad to have pushed him hard for his well-fought 2nd place. 

Looking for a handup or a high-five?

 I did about a half half lap of cool down and then raced to the car to get change for the costume race.  I headed back to find D who was playing on the rocks near the start line with a buddy he had made.  He gave me a huge hug and said congratulations for 3rd place; he said he was really proud and that 3rd was awesome.  I told him I could hear him cheering during the race and that it helped. It's a pretty special feeling as a dad to share that experience with your kid.  I rode in the costume race, did a lot of high-fives with bystanders.  There were lots of people throughout the course watching the pageantry of the costumed riders.  The famous Giraffe was back and set off early to pace the field. There were at least 40 costumed riders of all ages and shapes and sizes.  I gave quite a few high fives to bystanders, smiles to the kids, and waves to the crowd.

Surfing BMX Corner

The folks at Orchard Cross put on an amazing event.  CX is always a great time for the family, but OCX is the perfect blend of all the things that make New England special to me.



Wish I had this pic as a kid!

In case anyone was wondering what a CX race looks like from your heart's perspective, here's the picture of it:

Making a point.

This blog is titled "consequential only to me" because mostly I end up posting things that are related to me, and that likely only me, or my mother, would find interesting. But this time, I actually believe that what I have to say is consequential to everyone... so here goes:

I haven't seen a Rolling Stone magazine in a long time. I'm guessing you haven't either, but you probably heard that the cover features a picture of the guy responsible for the marathon bombings. So Rolling Stone is getting what it wants, attention, but at what will hopefully be an enormous cost to them. I haven't read the article yet, and I wont. I don't care what it says. What I do care about is the feelings of the victims of the tragedy. I also find it offensive that the marketing or editorial dept at that mag (I'm going to stop saying their name now, just like I think we shouldn't use the bombers name) thinks its a good ideas to drum up publicity at the victims expense. The more we talk about this issue, the happier the mag is because as everyone in marketing knows, no press is bad press, its just press that needs to be spun. So instead of talking about it, lets talk with the one thing that really works in a capitalistic society: our pocketbooks. Don't buy the mag. Don't talk about the mag, and don't talk about the bomber. There's no need to glamorize him or his acts; ignore the cowardly acts because they're not important. Give the scream for attention what it deserves, silence.

In the event that you actually subscribe to the mag, this is your chance to call them and cancel it. Do it, make a point, so what if you lose half of your $9 annual subscription remaining. It will be the best $9 you ever spent. Even if you re-subscribe next month, take a stand for what's right in a way where it will be felt. Loss of revenue and loss of subscribes will make the point clear.  Unfollow them from Twitter, unlike their facebook page.

I'll make it easy for you, this is from their website:

"We want to hear from you! Here's how to get in touch with the Rolling Stone staff:

Rolling Stone
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104 - 0298
(212) 484-1616

We want to hear from you! Here's how to get in touch with the Rolling Stone staff:

Unfollow Twitter:  @rollingstone on Twitter

Unlike on Facebook: RollingStone on Facebook

Cancel your Subscription: https://secure.customersvc.com/servlet/Show?WESPAGE=am/home.jsp

 

Support the foundering USPS by sending RS an actual letter or postcard with a stamp that says, "Your cover sucks, you know which one I'm talking about."

EDIT (7/17/13 - 13:45): Thanks to my uncle John who pointed out that if you cancel your subscription, they'll refund the remainder of the money for unshipped issues.

Wells Ave Training Crit - "C" Race (04/21/13)

Boston Road Club - Wells Ave Training Crit

This was my first criterium and I really had no idea what to expect. I was looking for some experience and another USAC start to help towards my Cat 4 upgrade. The field of about 25 riders lined up for the 8:00am start. It was chilly in the wind and the shade as they went through the rules and introduction. For a fair number of the field, including me, it was the first time riding the course and a crit. The Wells Ave is a great training race. They encourage dropped riders to rejoin the back of the peloton when it comes around. It's a friendly and no-shenanigans atmosphere. There were 2 juniors and a lady rider in the C race as well.

The race rolled out and we were off for 15 laps of racing. I had forgotten about Primes (lap prizes) and when they rang the bell on lap 4, held up a box of muffins and yelled "Muffin", everyone looked, and one dude near the front wiped out and took out another rider. I guess with beginners, its not the best thing to distract them with food. By the time we came around, the road still hadn't been completely cleared, so they waved off he prime, and rang the bell the next lap. I hadn't planned on going for any primes, but as we came around, I was in a pretty good position in 3rd wheel. The finishing straightaway had a massive headwind on Sunday. Some guy came up hard on the left, going faster than us, from quite a ways out; I jumped on his wheel and then sprinted past him. I had expected to see other guys come up around me and I didn't look back until after the prime. I probably should have looked because I could have backed off and still gotten the Muffin prime. My teammate later said that once the two of us were up to speed, everyone else backed off. I then sucked wind for 2 laps catching my breath. I didn't realize how much energy I spent. It gives me new respect for the intra-stage sprints at the TDF, where they go hard and then have to keep riding for another 80 miles.

I pretty much just stayed near the front and out of trouble after that; nothing really happened until the 9th lap, when after a prime, a group of 4 guys got a 2 or 3 second gap. Nothing really to be concerned about, but after the next lap, they had stretched it out to about 10 or 15 secs. I rode to the front and asked some of the guys if we should go chase them down, and then the bell rang for another prime. One guy at the front said we should wait until after the prime lap, and another guy agreed. When Justin, my teammate, rode up and asked, I said we're waiting I guess, even though it felt like a bad idea. I wasn't willing to bridge alone at that point. After the prime lap, they had a healthy lead that was growing. Justin grabbed onto the wheel of a guy hammering and so I told him to stay with him and work. Justin rode the front for the whole 11th lap but no one would pull through. I was about 5th wheel at that point and getting antsy cause there wasn't a lot of laps left and the break away was out of sight. So I decided to push the pace and try and drag the peloton with me to see if other people would help. I didn't want to jump the gap myself, just to see if I could get help. Either no one had the energy or the interest, but after the 12th lap, I had a gap on the field, so I decided to just go. I went into TT mode and tried to steadily ride across to the leaders with 2 laps to go. I started to see them after I rounded corners, but I couldn't tell how far ahead they were. It was also difficult to know if someone sat up because guys were getting dropped off the back and still riding the course waiting to catch back on, so I didn't really know where I stood. With the 4 guys ahead of me. I heard the bell for the last lap, and tried to pick it up. Around the back of the course I caught one guy who had gassed and wasn't moving very quickly. I came around the final turn with a lot of speed straight into the headwind and I could see two guys. One well up the road, and uncatchable, and another guy just up the road, so I tried to hide so he couldn't see me, but he looked back and saw me coming and stood up to sprint. We were about 200 yards out and I had ground to make up. I started to sprint too, thinking I was racing for 3rd. I pulled within 2 bike lengths before we crossed the finish, slightly disappointed in not catching him, but happy with how the race went. It turns out, we were racing for 2nd as the 4th guy in the breakaway had dropped around lap 12, and the other guy I passed who was sat up, was the 3rd guy from the lead. So I narrowly missed 2nd.

It was a fun race and like in every race at this point, I learned a lot. I should have bridged to the breakaway by myself earlier, maybe around lap 11. No one in the peloton wanted to work together so we were never going to catch the leaders. When it was a 10-15 sec gap, I could have bridged quickly, and then helped to stay away. The guy who won was pretty fit, so I have a feeling that if he and I had been in that group, we'd have dropped the other three guys in the breakaway by picking up the pace. The Wells Ave Crit is a great learning experience on a pretty smooth course. I'd recommend trying it out. Boston Road Club gave all the proceeds from Sunday to the Boston OneFund and will do so this coming week as well.

Jamestown Classic 2012 - Cat 5 Citizen Race Report

(Authors Note: the actual race report doesn’t start until like the 10th paragraph, the rest is just pontification and anecdotes that may amuse you or annoy you, depending on how much time you have on your hands).



Parade Watching


I spent Columbus Day weekend in Newport with my family and to race in the Jamestown Classic. Being there for the whole weekend gave me an opportunity to do my shakeout ride on the course to get a look at the terrain and scope some landmarks for the race.  Discussions with April and Dean in the week leading up to the race had given me the structure for a race strategy, and I wanted to make sure that I had some visual cues for when I wanted to do things.  One of the goals of this race was to work on things I felt were lacking at Battenkill, namely, not talking to anyone, and not really knowing what was going on or where I was late in the race.

On the shakeout ride, an issue with the borrowed 404 front wheel left me flatted and 15 min from my car. Normally this isn’t a big deal, it was early but wasn’t terribly cold.  But this morning, when I went to my saddle bag, the nozzle to my air was missing. I had left it in my Osprey pack because I had ridden MTB a couple of days earlier; since I committed to cycling on the cheap (don’t bring this up with my wife cause even “on the cheap” in cycling isn’t cheap, it’s just less than everyone else), I was swapping some stuff from road saddle bag to Osprey pack every ride, or rather, was supposed to, but clearly had forgotten.  Note to self, spend the $10 and get another CO2 nozzle.  As I was contemplating the long walk back to the car, and trying to decide if I should walk or take off my cycling shoes and run back carrying my bike (I could justify this as cyclocross training right?), I saw a guy come out of the house across the street.  He looked over and I asked if he had a bike pump, which he did.  I might have woken up 2 other people in the house, but they were very kind; I ended up with a bad tube and questionable tire and the young man, who it turns out was from Kerry, Ireland and married an American girl, gave me a lift back to the car.

We had a few laughs in the car given our very similar lives; he said his dad had just asked him to bring an indoor bike trainer back to Ireland over Christmas.  For all of you who don’t know how Irish in America and Irish in Ireland relationships work, it works like this.  When you live in America, and tell people in Ireland that you’re coming home, every family member, friend, distant cousin, and guy from the pub who you went to grammar school with, sends you a list, which you have to then go and fulfill, by driving all over Boston, including the North Shore and South Shore.  If you’re lucky, you can just use Amazon, but sometimes you have to go find specific sizes. Then you have to fit everything in your luggage, along with the clothes, toys, and dvds for the two kids you are required to bring back, which two are determined by the current rotation, taking into account what activities might happen in Ireland while you are there, like maybe a female cousins birthday, which would could bump a male child in favor of a female child. This is called "The Irish Mule". But I’m now off on a tangent, probably beacuase I just got off my indoor trainer, its late, I sweated a ton, I can’t sleep yet due to the recent exercise, and am now replacing fluids using Ipswich Harvest Ale. 

But that reminds me, so this Kerryman’s father asked him to bring a trainer home to Ireland for Christmas because he just started cycling, the weather in Ireland is generally crap, and they’re expensive there. I asked if had ever seen one or picked one up and he said no, so my bad luck with my wheel and his good samaritanism got him a chance to see one, because I had mine in the back of the minivan.  Let’s just say that he picked it up, his eyes went wide and he said, “jaysus dat weighs a tun.” Sorry Mr. Kerryman’s dad if you don’t get your trainer for Christmas.

The tire issue left me a bit out of sorts.  I put in a new tube, inflated it with a hand pump in the car, and did my ride, but the tire itself had two matching worn spots in the sidewall.  I rode the shakeout ride on it anyway, despite having some real concerns about racing on it.  I emailed a photo to FitWerx (Peabody) to get an opinion.  General shop consensus was that I “could” race on it, but none of them would.  So by last Saturday afternoon, when I was supposed to be deep into family time, I found myself scrambling to find a bike shop that had heard of Vittoria or Michelin tires, and had them in stock. Dropped the family at Eastons beach, and tore off to the shop with the now flat wheel, and made it there with a half hour til closing.  $110 later, which included a new tire, a new tube with an extended valve so I didn’t need the Zipp adapter on the 404 (I can never get them to inflate properly the first time and hold air), and two valve core replacement extenders later (which were moot due to the extended valve tube, but valuable at home with my 10 normal tubes), I was on my way back to the beach with a race tire. Phew! 

 

One-handed riding - not safe

Sunday was uneventful from a race perspective, and included an openers ride early around the Newport southern coast, a beautiful ride along the water that includes views of both the Atlantic Ocean and incredible mansions. Sunday evening I got all my gear ready, got the car ready, and was actually in bed early, thinking that with the tire drama behind me, I’d finally have a race where I was prepared. Except that Sharon asked the race start time, and I had to double check, and found out it was at 8:30 and not 8.  At least I wouldn’t have been late, but certainly was foreshadowing.

 I had a bit of difficulty sleeping, had my now-routine Mexican beers to settle me down to sleep before the race, and watched the end of Das Pro Und The Rookie, which I won’t spoil, but was not what I expected, but at the same time, was exactly what you need to understand happens in cycling, and in life (Buy the DVD and support kids cyclocross!).

 

Race Venue

The morning came quickly, I made a cup of coffee, checked the weather, which was around 45, and checked the wind, which was light from the north, and headed off to the race.  I got to the race at 6:45 and was one of the first to arrive. This got me a prime parking spot right at the finish line, so I could warm up on my trainer and watch the staging area, listen to the announcements, and just be close to all my stuff and the race in case of emergency.  I checked in at 7, got my numbers and went back to my car to pin my jersey and start getting ready for the race.  I have to stop for a second and say, that while I am not sponsored by anyone, if Honda wants to sponsor me, I’ll gladly sign on.  Specifically, Honda Odyssey. I’d plaster that all over my jersey, my bibs, my socks, my hat, my warm up gear, and here’s why.  With the back seats down, I fit my bike, all my gear, my bike trainer, and could leave the car on, listening to music and sit comfortably. In addition, when it rains, which it did at the GP of Gloucester, you can fit a bike under the opened back door and stay dry in the rain on your trainer. It may be the perfect cycling vehicle short of a team caravan. I could fit 3 racers, 3 bikes and 3 trainers in there no problem.  So for all you married male cyclists, do not be afraid of the minivan.  If you’re single, it may still be a deal breaker, so drive at your own risk.

So back to the pinning of the numbers; I had to make a decision at this point, an hour and a half before the race as to what I was going to wear.  I do not like to use 4 pins and have a parachute on my back.  I’m an over-pinner, but my number  does not move when I ride, and that’s how I like it, but it also means that I cannot make a last-minute kit change, I have to go with what I pick. It was still about 48 degrees and not forecast to warm up much at all.  So I decided on a light jacket, I could always go base layer, and jersey underneath, with full gloves and a skull cap if it was really cold, and I put on my long bibs. With an hour to the race, I jumped on my trainer, I had a 42 minute warmup (well my coach had said 45 min, but it added up to 42, and I’m an engineer, so that was an inconsistency, but I went with 42).  I also have a routine of printing out my warmup or workout in Excel in a small font, and using packing tape to make a semi-laminated card so I can tape it to my handlebars or stem.  This may be a bit anal or compulsive (anal was just so I get sweet google search placement), but I find this a great way to keep my strategy.  When I’m at threshold or above I find that I can’t really think of anything else, and I start to forget things, like watching to see where the leader is, like at Battenkill. For triathlons and long road races, I also use it for my nutrition guide. That coupled with an alarm on my garmin greatly increases my likely hood of staying on target and not bonking because I forgot to eat or drink.   I had printed my workout out, but forgot it, so commence annoying, not-prepared drama. I jumped off the bike, got a pen from my laptop bag and wrote the warmup frommy phone onto my hand and jumped back on the trainer.  All was good for 10 minutes as I warmed up and watched the other racers show up in their cars.  After 10 minutes, I was sweating profusely.  It was way hotter than the 48 degrees my phone said it was.  I took off my beanie and my jacket as the warmup progressed. I was hydrating with Cytomax during the warmup, and with 15 minutes to go, after a few minutes at FTP, I decided that I could not wear what I was wearing for two reasons, first, it was going to be too hot to race in, and second, what I had on was soaking wet, plus, I really really had to pee. I cut my warm up 5 minutes short, giving me 15 min to change, hit the head, and get to the starting line.  Under normal circumstances, 15 min is a lot of time, but with a bit of pressure, you be surprised how many stupid things you do.  I had to change my entire kit, but I had brought a backup.  I put on short bibs, new socks, a fresh jersey, and threw on the jacket because I had to, it had the numbers. I considered riding no shirt under the jersey, it felt that warm, but I was concerned about potentially getting too hot and having to unzip. Cyclists do not have the most manly, tanned upper bodies.  Think Addonis, but make it way smaller, and turn up the brightness, and add a funky tan-ish line from a century ride in San Diego.

In my own created chaos, I forgot to eat my Roctane GU, which I realized when I was standing in the staging area.  I wondered where I had put it, it wasn’t in any of my jersey pockets, probably because it was supposed to have been eaten already.  The glint of sun off the green packaging as the race started 5 minutes later confirmed that I had left it on the rear bumper of the van when I got inside and closed the rear door to change. Rookie. Tim Johnson would not have done that. And we were off.

 

Race Report Actually Starts Now.

Hi, welcome to all the people who skipped the previous 10 paragraphs, this is where the race report actually starts. Jamestown is a 19.2 miles circuit race around Jamestown, RI. It’s a rolling hill course with the longest hill a mile before the end of the race, with a healthy downhill right after it, a 90 degree left hand turn into a 1 minute sprint finish with a slight hip in it. Previous to this race, I had only ever ridden one race before, the Tour of the Battenkill, which is a 60 mile, grueling war of attrition, at least in cat 5. So I didn’t really know what to expect, but I did have two strategic goals, and two tactical goals.  From a race perspective, I was going to sit in, and do nothing for a long time; unless there was a break that went out that had a couple of strong guys and they were staying away, I was never doing anything interesting.  The second strategic point will be revealed later.  My tactical goals were to find people in the peloton and talk to them, and to make sure I knew what was going on around me.  Both of those were issues at Battenkill.  I think the talking thing is a cat 5 phenomenon and that as you race more, and you know more people in races, it happens naturally, but I finished Battenkill 20 secs. behind the guy in 2nd and we were 3 min behind the leader.  Had he and I actually talked with 10 miles to go, we might have caught the leader.  Instead, we didn’t talk and battled it out ourselves, and we both lost.  There were several guys from the Beverly Athletic Club in the race, so I rode up next to one and started talking to him. After the initial surprise, he was friendly enough.  Since nothing was going on in the race for the first 5 miles, we might as well talk. I asked him about his team, if he was working with anyone, and if he had a coach.  He said he was the strongest guy and would probably not wait for his teammates, that he wasn’t, and that he didn’t. So we kind of agreed to work together if the time came. He also asked what pace I wanted to ride when I got going.  I didn’t have an answer for that, I ride to watts, maybe it’s the triathlon background, so I’m not sure I actually knew how strong he was.  As we rounded the north end of Jamestown, and the peloton worked through the rough road, no one really seemed compelled to do anything.  When we returned to the smooth, long road south, I found myself at the front, talking to my BAC buddy.  I was starting to get itchy legs.  I don’t know if it was the long warm up, or how slow we were going as a peloton, or what, but I think I was getting antsy.  Logically, I wasn’t supposed to be, I was supposed to be sitting in and doing nothing in like 10-15th place, making sure I could cover any breaks if I needed to.  The problem was, when I was sitting in 10-15th place, I didn’t feel like I could cover a break, so I was anxious and ended up riding at the front.  I looked down a couple of times and remember seeing 150 watts on my 30sec avg.  Looking back at my data file, I averaged 206 watts for the first 7 miles.  So I ended up on the front of the pack for a lot of the southbound stretch, sitting up and talking to the BAC guy.  He had asked if I had heard about Dean’s crash, so I told him that story, and we generally passed the time with a couple of mentions of, I wonder if we could get away.  We both knew it was a bad idea, but we were going really slowly, and if I’m honest with myself, I did think about making a break for it a couple of times.  But that wasn’t my strategy, and I was sticking to it as best I could.  The first 10 miles, even with me on or near the front for the last 3 was at 246 watts.  When we made the right hand turn across the causeway, the pace picked up a tad, but it wasn’t a huge increase.  There’s a longer hill at mile 12 that I had considered attacking on, but given the length of the race and the speeds which previous years had finished, I didn’t think I could channel my inner Cancellara enough to stay away.

 

That being said, my second strategic goal for the race was to not leave it to the end.  I knew that I did not want to leave it to a sprint finish if I could help it. So the hill at mile 14 was my go point.  I had already scoped out a house half way up the hill that was my trigger, and when I got there I attacked.  I got a gap of about 100 yards and settled in to TT my way around the south end of the island.  I thought that if I could make it to the turn at the lighthouse, I’d have a chance to stay away.  That turn is tight and the entire peloton would have to slow through it, and there’s a gradual but long uphill false flat after the turn with some bends that would have put me out of sight.  Unfortunately, when I looked back to see the gap, I saw the peloton closing in with their “power faces” on, and knew it was futile, I sat up had a drink and waited for the catch.  I pedaled to stay in the top 5 to round the corner, I didn’t want someone else to attack and miss it, so I rounded the lighthouse turn in about 4th place.  It was no surprise that people powered out of the turn, I had seen it in the Strava profiles of previous year’s races, it thinned out the peloton and made for an opportunity to break. I was sitting at the front with two other guys, my BAC friend, and another guy who looked pretty fresh.  The three of us were chatting and checking to see how we felt, and I basically said, I’m going on every break, so if you guys are fresh, let’s go, so we attacked.  Unfortunately, the BAC guy and I rode side by side, and the other guy slotted in behind and the BAC guy burned out quickly, so it was just me and the 2nd guy.  We got a bit of a gap, but were joined by a 3rd rider who bridged.  The three of us did a couple of rotations to try and stay away, but the peloton was still close and we didn’t have clear break, plus I was finding it difficult to power through turn pulling, probably due to the earlier attack. We got absorbed, but the pace stayed quick as we approached the return across the causeway. The other factor that I didn’t realize at the time was that there was a stiff enough headwind from the north that the attacks we made after the lighthouse were always going to be difficult.  I had the same problem at Battenkill when I went off the front and made a turn into a huge headwind, that I ultimately sat up in. I should have known better.  Looking back, an attack, with two other strong riders, on the south bound part of the main island, could have stayed away.  It was smooth, with some longish hills and a tailwind, but you know what they say about hindsight.

The peloton picked up a lot of speed as we crossed the causeway and we were stretched out in a long line.  At the end of the causeway is a slight weave as the main road goes left but the race route makes a right off of that.  That right is the start of the final hill.  I had planned on trying to sit 4th or 5th wheel on that last hill and attack about half way up, but the attacks started at the bottom, first one guy, then another, and then everyone was out of the saddle.  I was in 2nd going around weave, but got passed by 3 or 4 guys before I got out of the saddle and chased.  It’s a long enough hill, and once I had my watts up, I sat back down and settled into my hard climbing pace.  The legs were burning and there wasn’t enough oxygen, and everyone was still pushing it.  As we approached the crest of the hill, gaps had appeared all over the place.  I was sitting about 15-20th place with a couple of bike lengths between me and the tail of that group at the top of the hill.  Despite being pain and wanting to coast, I forced myself to bridge on the downhill to that group.  I caught them about half way down the hill and grabbed onto the back wheel and tried to recover a bit.  There are some times when being a light rider on a light bike isn’t the best scenario.  This was one of them.  Not enough inertia on the downhill.  In retrospect, I should have stayed out of the saddle for the whole climb.  I was worried about having something left at the end, but in the end, I still had to burn watts on the downhill.  I don’t know if it was tiredness, or inexperience, but Dean was right, the race to the top of that hill was the race. 

I had a couple of seconds of recovery as we approached the 90 degree left at the bottom of the hill.  I was at the back of the group and knew that there wasn’t much race left.  I took the turn wide to go around people, which let me keep my speed up, and I came out of the corner out with some momentum; a couple of hard pedal strokes out of my saddle got me a few places right there.  You can’t see the finish line from that turn, the road goes to the left a bit, and there’s a hip and the road goes back to the right just before the finish line.  I knew this was going to be a very fast sprint finish, and despite all my attempts to not make it a field sprint, that’s what it came down to.  I picked up a couple of spots on the turn and sat back down.  Some guys tried to sprint from the turn, and paid the price dearly.  Just before the hip, everyone was all out, but guys who had started too early were dropping off.  We were going fast, and I tried to sprint to the inside of a guy just as the road made the turn back to the right and I was nearly run into the barriers as he had gassed and was veering to the right.  I yelled at him, stopped pedaling for a second, then went once I knew I could make it through.  I crossed the finish line out of breath in what looked like somewhere between 8-12th place. It was hard to actually tell exactly where.  Everyone bled off speed and slowed after the finish and did the nice race thing.  I talked to the guy with whom I had tried to get away at the light house, and his first words to me were “nice race, you did too much work”.  He got second, nipped at the line.  Another guy rode up next to me and said nice race, you did lots of hard work.  I probably did.  Aside from the attempts to get away, I spent a lot of time at the front, probably too much time, and I paid for it on that last hill.  I voted myself Most Aggressive Rider for the race for no other reason than it makes me feel good about how I rode.

I circled back to the finish line, ran into some friends who were racing later in the Cat 1-4 men’s, and the Cat 3 women’s races and had a chat. I went back to the car to change, and then up to where the results were going to be posted.  Official result was 8th place, 3 seconds off 1st and 2nd, and 2 seconds off 3rd and 4th.  Realistically, I was never in the hunt for the win based on how the race ended.  I got 8th because I finished strong and out sprinted a couple of guys.  My data file has a 5 second hole where I had no power, which was when I had to stop from being run into the barriers.  I have no idea what would have happened if I had gone to the left, but I still didn’t ride that last hill properly. I had to peak at 390 watts on the downhill to bridge to the front group, and that’s not good.  Still, I have to be pleased with the race.  I learned a lot of things, got a circuit race under my belt, and have things to take away to work on.
 

Leadership, Ron Paul, and 2012

After having watched many of the republican debates, primarily for entertainment at first, but more recently because I'm concerned about what is going on, and having observed the current state of both congress and the white house, I feel compelled finally put my support out (for what its worth), legitimately and for real, for Ron Paul. For a long time, I've felt disillusioned by
both the Reps and Dems, specifically because of the trend towards a more and more polarized political landscape. I feel like both parties pander to the extreme left and right of their constituents, that the two party system is a huge part of the problem, and that no one speaks for
what I believe in. I've always thought that Ron Paul made good, logical sense, despite the rhetoric and pundits commenting around him. I fell prey, a bit, to the medias way of ignoring him like he's crazy and not a legitimate candidate. The fact is, he only seems crazy to some because of the nonsense around him, and because he doesn't cowtow to the people who get a lot of airtime. We need to reset our baseline of what is normal. No candidate is the perfect candidate, and you may always find something about their beliefs or platform that you don't necessarily agree with, but that's why there are checks and balances. I believe Ron Paul should play a major part in the leadership of this country going forward.

He has an incredible ability to think clearly, to analyze, and to stay focused on what is really important, even when there are forces around him trying to get him to address things that are irrelevant (pretty much anything a talking head on tv asks him). Please take a couple of minutes and watch this video of a speech Ron Paul gave on the hill in 2002. Its from C-SPAN, where he makes predictions of what the next 10 years would bring (i.e. 2002-2012). We're at the end of that decade, and the video shows how many of his predictions came true and to what extent.

http://bit.ly/RonPaul2002Pred

The next time you see me, I'll probably be wearing a Ron Paul t-shirt.

Support: http://RonPaul2012.com