It's a pretty successful vacation when you can bring both your road and mountain bikes and log a combined 5 hours on them in 3 days all while entertaining the kiddies and not using up too many marital points. In case anyone's wondering, the hills in the greater Conway area aren't getting any smaller. The whole thing was nearly a bust when the rain started to fall Sunday morning while I was getting dressed, but I successfully threw myself out into the raindrops for 3 hours of road-grit covered fun.
Tuesday I found myself at Great Glen Trails with a permission slip to jump into the Tuesday night series that they put on. Pretty sweet deal if you're ever in the area. 5 miles TT style for $12, just show and go. Course is typical Great Glen... 75% twisty and hilly fire roads interspersed with legit single-track. Perfect for big ringing around to the point of wanting to vomit and then having to handle your bike while cross eyed... woo hoo. I didn't have time to pre-ride the loop so I just went in blind and only lightly warmed up and I'm sure that cost me a small amount of time. Still managed second place for sport last night and second fastest sport time of the series this year. No reason to complain at all. Oh, and to the dirt crowd, keep an eye on the name Sam Anderson... according to results the kid is 18 and put 4 minutes into me last night. Now I know I'm nothing special as far as benchmarks go, but I also have a good sense of where one could have gained time on that course and 4 minutes is beyond my comprehension.
Next up... the big one
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
This is gonna hurt
What better way to train for my aspirations to race 1 hour CX races than to do back to back 45 minute CX races. This could leave a mark...
The bad news is that I've discovered I have to miss Gloucester this year...
The bad news is that I've discovered I have to miss Gloucester this year...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Elbow update
This is giving more signs of being a bit of a slow recovery, but there's a chance that it may be the type of thing that just feels better one morning. I rode yesterday for the first time and any jarring from the road isn't feeling that good. Check in with the doctor tomorrow to make sure there's no signs of infection and then that worry should be over with. The fork isn't fixed yet which is no worry since I'll probably be at least another week before I can get back on the trails. I'm definitely going to be at a bike handling disadvantage going into GG, but that course isn't that technical anyways so it's all good.
In other news I'm very proud of the boys these days... they're all proving that true talent skips a generation. The oldest was named co-MVP of his baseball team and he was by far the youngest on the team. The middle one got his first chance to pitch in a game this week and lit it up with 2 K's and no runs allowed (at 6 years old). The youngest amazed family and neighbors by passing the official family "lose the training wheels test" at just over 4 years old. I'm already asking him if he's in for CX season. Yes I'm bragging... deal with it :)
In other news I'm very proud of the boys these days... they're all proving that true talent skips a generation. The oldest was named co-MVP of his baseball team and he was by far the youngest on the team. The middle one got his first chance to pitch in a game this week and lit it up with 2 K's and no runs allowed (at 6 years old). The youngest amazed family and neighbors by passing the official family "lose the training wheels test" at just over 4 years old. I'm already asking him if he's in for CX season. Yes I'm bragging... deal with it :)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Sometimes the luck runs out
Update: After being yelled at by one friend already, I'm adding a warning that there's a semi-gross picture further down this post. Maybe not mealtime reading...
I've noticed, and some guys I ride with have said the same thing, that there are an amazing number of times when a MTB crash results in nothing more than a funny story and some dirt to wash off. You can take a flaming endo down a hill into a rock garden and somehow land in between all the sharp ones. You can even launch yourself into the woods and have the trees cushion your fall instead of impaling you. As it turns out though, it is apparently just luck and sometimes that runs out. Before getting to the gory details, let's first visit the happier days of Domnarski Farm...
Looking at the pre-reg list on Friday I discovered that Mr. RMM who had bested me by one spot at Sterling CX last year had signed up for the cat 2 race... bonus, this could be as good a time as any to test my fitness and try for some revenge. He had been riding pretty well lately too so it was a good goal. At the same time, I needed to start packing in some mileage for Pats Peak and Great Glen so I made the decision to go early and ride the whole course before the race. When I got there, I found Matt (farm owner and race host/promoter) and asked him if the whole thing was marked because I wanted to pre-ride. He looked at me kinda funny and said "The big loop? You're going to be pretty tired." Hmmmm, was this the best plan? Shunning his warnings, I headed out which turned out to be a great decision. I discovered a few things: 1) The hole shot was basically irrelevant because the climbs were going to sort this mess out regardless, 2) There was going to be a complete cluster f about 400m in, 3) There were some swamps and mud pits late in the race that would probably come into play in a close race. I finished up the very casual ride-around in about 1:20 and the posted GPS map of the course said 1:11 so I figured I was doing ok. Off to sit around for about 90 minutes before race time.
Sitting around almost turned out to be my downfall. When I went to saddle back up and warm up my legs were like "Um, dude, we already worked today... F U". Fortunately 20 minutes or so of negotiating with them and we had an agreement to go again. Armed with my course knowledge I nailed the reverse hole shot and walked up the first kicker with everyone else, then got on to the climby climby thing. RMM took the opposite approach and got an ok start and then was a bit up the trail early on, but I caught back on with him on the single-track as we both hacked our way through it. Somewhere along the way he opened a sizeable gap and now I was just waiting for the late hills to bring back as many guys as I could. Out on the brutal climbs up the power lines I picked off several more by riding the first section and then quickly trudging the second and caught a brief glimpse of RMM coming back a little. I knew that once you got to the top of the power lines it was pretty much downhill and mud pits from there so I totally went for it and caught back on with him just after the giant swamp. Despite a good long stretch of the no brakes game on the fast fire-roads and some single-track, he was still there so this was going to come down to the finish. He edged in front somewhere in the mud puts and then I was sure we were winding up for the final downhill into the finish. I knew I could take that hill faster than he seemed willing to so I had clicked up to a big gear to get ready. Unfortunately, I forgot about that last mud pit... I rode into this giant mess horribly over-geared and he was able to ride right through so I was in chase mode again with little time left. We hit the top of the final descent and I got right back on, then tried to bomb around to the left. We were side by side when I realized that there was a giant wheel crushing rock on the far left side so I had to do a brief check-up just as he opened the sprint. Fresh off his Exeter finish, the sprint turned into no contest and I rolled in about 3 seconds back. Turned out we were 2 and 3 in the 30-39 cat 2 and that got me $25 cash money... yay.
Now in contrast to that bit of fun and success, Pats Peak was just plain old bad from start to finish. I targeted getting there around 10 for a noon start and ended up stuck behind some blue hairs so I got there at 10:15, 10 minutes before the riders meeting. They then announced that they didn't want us setting up bottles or feeds near the finish tent unless we had paid for a tech site (WTF?). Fortunately, mountain bikers are good people and I got 3 offers to bum some tent space from those who had paid. I even tried to pay the people I hooked up with and just got "No worries, it's all good." This would be the end of goodness for the day.
Pats Peak is another course where how you handle the climbs 4 or 5 hours into the race matters a hell of a lot more than being out in front for lap one so I put in a nice little jog to the bike and just was ready for some bottleneck induced hike-a-bike on the first lap. Not unexpectedly, sections of the course were pretty damn wet and the let-me-make-this-trail-wider-to-find-a-dry-line game had already started on lap one. Fortunately, the really hard parts of the climbs were bone dry so that was not a forced hike last last year's GG. I was riding pretty well up through the first summit and as I started the downhill I could tell something wasn't right. Every time I hit a rock/bump/ditch something would just clunk and bang and I almost immediately figured out it was the fork. I had ridden the day before and had a little tiny bit of this, but I thought I was just running the tires too low and was clanging the rims on the roots. Now it was obvious that suspension fork was not suspending. This made the single-track descent much more hair-raising and after coming through in about 35 minutes for lap one I had to run over to check fork air pressure. Negative pressure was down to like 50 so I pumped that back up and headed out again, hoping for the best. Being admitedly ignorant still on all the innards of suspension forks, I was guessing. Well it became quickly obvious that I was still hosed so I again set about picking my way through anything that was seven semi-technical. Down through the single-track downhill again and I knew I'd be visiting the mechanic and possibly going home. At one spot there was a decent sized hole with a hump after it and I totally botched it with my now effectively rigid fork. Over the bars I go and don't I find the sharp rock in the middle of the trail with my elbow. Hmmm, um, OUCH!!! Blood check... yup, we've got lots. Well folks, it's been fun. Rode it down and headed for the mechanic and first-aid. I think some small fragment of my brain was thinking of going back out if I could which is why I bothered with the mechanic.
The first-aid folks did a bit of cleanup, but were pretty certain stitches were in order and there was a concerning looking bubble in the middle of the bigger cut. Time to pack up and drive home to the hospital. Once I finally got through the totally back-asswards reg process in the ER I got to see the doctor. She checks out the damage and I tell her that the little bubble thing is a little concerning and she says "Oh, that's just a piece of your muscle... we'll put that back in where it belongs." She later recanted and said it was actually some of the fatty tissue that protects your elbow, but regardless, inside stuff was no longer inside. And you know what that means... picture time:
As it turns out, I upped the ante more by chipping the bone in my elbow which then pushed this injury into the category of "open fracture". About a liter and a half of saline to clean the mountain out of it, some IV antibiotics to deal with my insides being outside, and 7 stitches later I was sent on my way to drown my sorrows in beer and pizza. I think I'll be shopping for an elbow pad for Great Glen... maybe I'll hire my own medical crew too.
I've noticed, and some guys I ride with have said the same thing, that there are an amazing number of times when a MTB crash results in nothing more than a funny story and some dirt to wash off. You can take a flaming endo down a hill into a rock garden and somehow land in between all the sharp ones. You can even launch yourself into the woods and have the trees cushion your fall instead of impaling you. As it turns out though, it is apparently just luck and sometimes that runs out. Before getting to the gory details, let's first visit the happier days of Domnarski Farm...
Looking at the pre-reg list on Friday I discovered that Mr. RMM who had bested me by one spot at Sterling CX last year had signed up for the cat 2 race... bonus, this could be as good a time as any to test my fitness and try for some revenge. He had been riding pretty well lately too so it was a good goal. At the same time, I needed to start packing in some mileage for Pats Peak and Great Glen so I made the decision to go early and ride the whole course before the race. When I got there, I found Matt (farm owner and race host/promoter) and asked him if the whole thing was marked because I wanted to pre-ride. He looked at me kinda funny and said "The big loop? You're going to be pretty tired." Hmmmm, was this the best plan? Shunning his warnings, I headed out which turned out to be a great decision. I discovered a few things: 1) The hole shot was basically irrelevant because the climbs were going to sort this mess out regardless, 2) There was going to be a complete cluster f about 400m in, 3) There were some swamps and mud pits late in the race that would probably come into play in a close race. I finished up the very casual ride-around in about 1:20 and the posted GPS map of the course said 1:11 so I figured I was doing ok. Off to sit around for about 90 minutes before race time.
Sitting around almost turned out to be my downfall. When I went to saddle back up and warm up my legs were like "Um, dude, we already worked today... F U". Fortunately 20 minutes or so of negotiating with them and we had an agreement to go again. Armed with my course knowledge I nailed the reverse hole shot and walked up the first kicker with everyone else, then got on to the climby climby thing. RMM took the opposite approach and got an ok start and then was a bit up the trail early on, but I caught back on with him on the single-track as we both hacked our way through it. Somewhere along the way he opened a sizeable gap and now I was just waiting for the late hills to bring back as many guys as I could. Out on the brutal climbs up the power lines I picked off several more by riding the first section and then quickly trudging the second and caught a brief glimpse of RMM coming back a little. I knew that once you got to the top of the power lines it was pretty much downhill and mud pits from there so I totally went for it and caught back on with him just after the giant swamp. Despite a good long stretch of the no brakes game on the fast fire-roads and some single-track, he was still there so this was going to come down to the finish. He edged in front somewhere in the mud puts and then I was sure we were winding up for the final downhill into the finish. I knew I could take that hill faster than he seemed willing to so I had clicked up to a big gear to get ready. Unfortunately, I forgot about that last mud pit... I rode into this giant mess horribly over-geared and he was able to ride right through so I was in chase mode again with little time left. We hit the top of the final descent and I got right back on, then tried to bomb around to the left. We were side by side when I realized that there was a giant wheel crushing rock on the far left side so I had to do a brief check-up just as he opened the sprint. Fresh off his Exeter finish, the sprint turned into no contest and I rolled in about 3 seconds back. Turned out we were 2 and 3 in the 30-39 cat 2 and that got me $25 cash money... yay.
Now in contrast to that bit of fun and success, Pats Peak was just plain old bad from start to finish. I targeted getting there around 10 for a noon start and ended up stuck behind some blue hairs so I got there at 10:15, 10 minutes before the riders meeting. They then announced that they didn't want us setting up bottles or feeds near the finish tent unless we had paid for a tech site (WTF?). Fortunately, mountain bikers are good people and I got 3 offers to bum some tent space from those who had paid. I even tried to pay the people I hooked up with and just got "No worries, it's all good." This would be the end of goodness for the day.
Pats Peak is another course where how you handle the climbs 4 or 5 hours into the race matters a hell of a lot more than being out in front for lap one so I put in a nice little jog to the bike and just was ready for some bottleneck induced hike-a-bike on the first lap. Not unexpectedly, sections of the course were pretty damn wet and the let-me-make-this-trail-wider-to-find-a-dry-line game had already started on lap one. Fortunately, the really hard parts of the climbs were bone dry so that was not a forced hike last last year's GG. I was riding pretty well up through the first summit and as I started the downhill I could tell something wasn't right. Every time I hit a rock/bump/ditch something would just clunk and bang and I almost immediately figured out it was the fork. I had ridden the day before and had a little tiny bit of this, but I thought I was just running the tires too low and was clanging the rims on the roots. Now it was obvious that suspension fork was not suspending. This made the single-track descent much more hair-raising and after coming through in about 35 minutes for lap one I had to run over to check fork air pressure. Negative pressure was down to like 50 so I pumped that back up and headed out again, hoping for the best. Being admitedly ignorant still on all the innards of suspension forks, I was guessing. Well it became quickly obvious that I was still hosed so I again set about picking my way through anything that was seven semi-technical. Down through the single-track downhill again and I knew I'd be visiting the mechanic and possibly going home. At one spot there was a decent sized hole with a hump after it and I totally botched it with my now effectively rigid fork. Over the bars I go and don't I find the sharp rock in the middle of the trail with my elbow. Hmmm, um, OUCH!!! Blood check... yup, we've got lots. Well folks, it's been fun. Rode it down and headed for the mechanic and first-aid. I think some small fragment of my brain was thinking of going back out if I could which is why I bothered with the mechanic.
The first-aid folks did a bit of cleanup, but were pretty certain stitches were in order and there was a concerning looking bubble in the middle of the bigger cut. Time to pack up and drive home to the hospital. Once I finally got through the totally back-asswards reg process in the ER I got to see the doctor. She checks out the damage and I tell her that the little bubble thing is a little concerning and she says "Oh, that's just a piece of your muscle... we'll put that back in where it belongs." She later recanted and said it was actually some of the fatty tissue that protects your elbow, but regardless, inside stuff was no longer inside. And you know what that means... picture time:
As it turns out, I upped the ante more by chipping the bone in my elbow which then pushed this injury into the category of "open fracture". About a liter and a half of saline to clean the mountain out of it, some IV antibiotics to deal with my insides being outside, and 7 stitches later I was sent on my way to drown my sorrows in beer and pizza. I think I'll be shopping for an elbow pad for Great Glen... maybe I'll hire my own medical crew too.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Pats Peak Race Report
Pats Peak 6-hour by the numbers:
3+ hours of driving
Roughly 1:15 of "racing"
1 Reba fork in need of overhaul
7 stitches
Full report (as well as less suck-filled Domnarski Farm report tomorrow)
3+ hours of driving
Roughly 1:15 of "racing"
1 Reba fork in need of overhaul
7 stitches
Full report (as well as less suck-filled Domnarski Farm report tomorrow)
Monday, June 29, 2009
All-Mountain
And BTW... if someone feels ambitious they can try and explain the concept of the All-Mountain mountain bike to me. As I browse the web dreaming of full-suspension goodness (maybe for X-mas dear if you're wondering), I find these peculiar creatures of the bike world. In an attempt to make a bike that's good for everything off-road, I can't help but wonder if what they've done is created a bike that's not particularly good at anything off-road. A bit too heavy for XC race and a bit too whimpy to be seriously dropped, maybe it's only intended for the not quite so daring weekend warrior who will never race. I guess that's _A_ market, still just seems a bit odd...
My body hates me
When you're in generally good overall shape, you feel like you can jump into any activity and be pretty much fine. When you're young, you can typically even get away with this. Well I think I must have somehow reached the age where this isn't possible because I feel like crap today. Saturday I participated in my yearly what-the-hell-I-shouldn't-be-able-to-do-this running event and tore it up with a 4:54 1600m on the track. I also drove about 210 miles on Saturday between that race and going down to work the club crit at the speedway. Sunday morning I rode about 2.5 hours in Nam with people better than me (oh wait, that's about everybody who owns a mountain bike). I then went home and spent way too long mowing my overly watered and healthy lawn. Sunday evening I had a softball game during which I had a picturesque slide into home while scoring from second and successfully tearing up most of my right shin and knee. This morning my shin stings, my wrist is very angry with me, and I generally feel like I let the kids beat me with hockey sticks (which they would enjoy greatly). I'm sure it will all wear off by lunchtime once I've been mentally flogged at work for a few hours...
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Tour de Mediocrity
I continued my campaign of non-descript road racing on Saturday at the Mystic Velo Crit down at Ninigret. The report will be about as exciting as my performance:
- That was the sketchiest field I have ever ridden a crit with. I had to yell out loud at one point "Smooth line through the turns guys... Jesus Christ!" It is mind-boggling that there wasn't a crash.
- They rang a $10 prime with 6 to go. With my history of results and the fact that we were bound to go down in a pile at any second I went for it and took it relatively easily.
- I went from having a good position for a finish sprint to having a terrible position in about 1 second. Such is racing I guess... especially when I'm doing it.
So on to guys who do not suck at racing their bikes, both Coach Guy and Nega-Coach Guy scored nice results. Yay for the guys who don't suck.
I'm making a semi-official almost-complete cutover to mountain biking from here out through December with a minor detour for some runnin'. Insert exploding hamstring here...
- That was the sketchiest field I have ever ridden a crit with. I had to yell out loud at one point "Smooth line through the turns guys... Jesus Christ!" It is mind-boggling that there wasn't a crash.
- They rang a $10 prime with 6 to go. With my history of results and the fact that we were bound to go down in a pile at any second I went for it and took it relatively easily.
- I went from having a good position for a finish sprint to having a terrible position in about 1 second. Such is racing I guess... especially when I'm doing it.
So on to guys who do not suck at racing their bikes, both Coach Guy and Nega-Coach Guy scored nice results. Yay for the guys who don't suck.
I'm making a semi-official almost-complete cutover to mountain biking from here out through December with a minor detour for some runnin'. Insert exploding hamstring here...
Friday, June 12, 2009
T-Rex
It's no secret that cyclists and runners are close descendants of the T-Rex in that they're all badass until someone asks them to do something strenuous with their arms at which point people might as well just start pointing and laughing. The newest roadie has referred to this in the past so yes, I'm just repeating/stealing a point. But that's not really the end of my point (is it ever?)... you see in the land of the stick armed wonders, I certainly rank well down the list. I'm not sure I've ever done more than 25 consecutive pushups. I know for a fact that I have never done 10 straight unassisted pullups. I'm 99% certain that I've never benchpressed my body weight (there may have been one day back when HGH was still cool). Well I think I've decided to try and at least move myself up the list of those with useless arms (c'mon, your armwarmers can only slide right off by thesemlves so many times before you get the hint). I have a new goal of being able to do twice my age in pushups and at least 20 pullups by 1 year from today. And yes sir, I realize this will be useful for little else other than being able to do pushups and pullups real well. Wish me luck...
Monday, June 08, 2009
Hey look, it's Frank
As I improve my fitness and racing skills, I find myself shoulder to shoulder with more guys I knew I couldn't hang with for even a lap a few years ago. It's pretty cool, but I sometimes catch myself having a very brief moment of WTF/star-struck/intimidation. Then I usually get over it and launch some foolish and poorly timed attack that's destined for failure :) Sunday I got to have a couple of those moments courtesy of Wells Ave where posers like me have the opportunity to give it their best against the guys who are actually good.
A relatively quiet Sunday on the home front meant that I could saddle up around 8 and ride on down to Newton for some good ole training race action. It's only about 1:15 to get there and that's if you're just sort of cruising along. I knew I'd be early, but I also knew I was starving so I'd need time to eat again (and again) when I got there. I couldn't tell during the ride down or the warmup how the race would feel... it alternated back and forth between thinking/hoping a brake was rubbing and feeling just fine. So we get to the line and Bill tries to explain to everyone that we're doing a points race instead just for kicks. He tries to explain the format about 4 times, but guys are still confused (even though it was pretty basic: 1 point for each lap's leader, 3 and 2 points every 5 laps, double points at half-way and the finish, most points wins) so we joke up front that once Spinelli rides off and laps us we'll figure it all out. We roll off and apparently guys got the point that it was ON basically for every lap because two Pedro's guys take off and we're doing about mach 2 after them (with your's truly valiantly leading the charge until I felt like throwing up). We made it maybe 5 laps into the race and I think we had already had a couple near car incidents and I was just begging for someone to sit up and slow down just a hair. Then maybe 6 or so in we come around the big sweeping turn to the home stretch and all hell breaks loose. There are two cars STOPPED in the middle of the road so the entire field scatters. Somehow everyone stays upright, we ride around the cars and find that there is an enormous farking turtle in the middle of the road. I think it was the next time through that they called off the points race and just made it a straight crit.
So after my lap 1 pull I just went to hide for a while and didn't do a hell of a lot. I actually felt like crap for about 18 laps and decided I needed to try a gel to see if that helped. Well I almost managed to get myself dropped by drifting back to eat it. I did latch back on and very shortly after started to feel ok (plus I think the pace had slowed a little) so then me and another guy did a little work to try and tow someone up to the front for a prime. It was a pretty half-hearted effort, but it was work and I was still feeling better. Fast forward to 13 to go and I decided I had been hanging dangerously close to the back for too long so I should move up. Along the backside I was just finding guys going forward and latching on, picking up a few spots at a time. We got to the finish stretch and there were two guys sort of just dangling out front trying to make up their minds. I had been following a couple wheels up the left side when they both tucked in and I figured F it, those guys could use some company. They clearly weren't very far up because I bridged in about half a lap and shortly after a couple more guys came up too. We never really did get organized and I never really did recover from the bridge so maybe 2/3 of a lap later the front guy pulls off, peeks back and sits up. I peek back too and there's the train with Spinelli right at the front... Wait a minute, what am I doing in front of him... ever... at all... unless he's lapping me. Oh wait, cool, I got a little itty bitty gap on a field with Justin in it... Sweet! So retreat the to pack, try to recover, and see what's left. Now I can't remember if it was around now or just before the ill-fated attack that I noticed one of the Fuji guys, I rode up next to him, and noticed it was Frankie Mac (unless Mark was in Maine AND at Wells or someone else looks quite a bit like Mark)... Yes this was my other holy crap moment... brief moment of "I'm clearly in the wrong race" followed up "Well, that's pretty cool". Anywho... 3 to go and our guy wants to get near the front again so he's calling out to us to get him there. We did what we could, but the pack wasn't exactly taking it easy so he had a little to do when we had to pull off (we being me, a cat 4, and a guy who's 50+ and has barely ridden in a month). Well I drifted back into the pack again and realized I had probably quit on him too early because I wasn't totally blown so I tried to start moving up again a little, but you know how well that works when you're right on the edge of done and there's 2 to go. The good news is I didn't go cross-eyed and crash myself or anyone else. The better news is I was able to get out of the saddle and weave through a few guys on my way forward in the finale. The mediocre news is I was going hard for maybe 20th place.
Computer thingy told me we were a spirited 27.5 mph for this little affair. Maxed out at 34 and change when I made my blistering move to close a whole 6 second gap ;) Really not a whole lot I can complain about. Oh... and I got to ride with some guys who are pretty good...
A relatively quiet Sunday on the home front meant that I could saddle up around 8 and ride on down to Newton for some good ole training race action. It's only about 1:15 to get there and that's if you're just sort of cruising along. I knew I'd be early, but I also knew I was starving so I'd need time to eat again (and again) when I got there. I couldn't tell during the ride down or the warmup how the race would feel... it alternated back and forth between thinking/hoping a brake was rubbing and feeling just fine. So we get to the line and Bill tries to explain to everyone that we're doing a points race instead just for kicks. He tries to explain the format about 4 times, but guys are still confused (even though it was pretty basic: 1 point for each lap's leader, 3 and 2 points every 5 laps, double points at half-way and the finish, most points wins) so we joke up front that once Spinelli rides off and laps us we'll figure it all out. We roll off and apparently guys got the point that it was ON basically for every lap because two Pedro's guys take off and we're doing about mach 2 after them (with your's truly valiantly leading the charge until I felt like throwing up). We made it maybe 5 laps into the race and I think we had already had a couple near car incidents and I was just begging for someone to sit up and slow down just a hair. Then maybe 6 or so in we come around the big sweeping turn to the home stretch and all hell breaks loose. There are two cars STOPPED in the middle of the road so the entire field scatters. Somehow everyone stays upright, we ride around the cars and find that there is an enormous farking turtle in the middle of the road. I think it was the next time through that they called off the points race and just made it a straight crit.
So after my lap 1 pull I just went to hide for a while and didn't do a hell of a lot. I actually felt like crap for about 18 laps and decided I needed to try a gel to see if that helped. Well I almost managed to get myself dropped by drifting back to eat it. I did latch back on and very shortly after started to feel ok (plus I think the pace had slowed a little) so then me and another guy did a little work to try and tow someone up to the front for a prime. It was a pretty half-hearted effort, but it was work and I was still feeling better. Fast forward to 13 to go and I decided I had been hanging dangerously close to the back for too long so I should move up. Along the backside I was just finding guys going forward and latching on, picking up a few spots at a time. We got to the finish stretch and there were two guys sort of just dangling out front trying to make up their minds. I had been following a couple wheels up the left side when they both tucked in and I figured F it, those guys could use some company. They clearly weren't very far up because I bridged in about half a lap and shortly after a couple more guys came up too. We never really did get organized and I never really did recover from the bridge so maybe 2/3 of a lap later the front guy pulls off, peeks back and sits up. I peek back too and there's the train with Spinelli right at the front... Wait a minute, what am I doing in front of him... ever... at all... unless he's lapping me. Oh wait, cool, I got a little itty bitty gap on a field with Justin in it... Sweet! So retreat the to pack, try to recover, and see what's left. Now I can't remember if it was around now or just before the ill-fated attack that I noticed one of the Fuji guys, I rode up next to him, and noticed it was Frankie Mac (unless Mark was in Maine AND at Wells or someone else looks quite a bit like Mark)... Yes this was my other holy crap moment... brief moment of "I'm clearly in the wrong race" followed up "Well, that's pretty cool". Anywho... 3 to go and our guy wants to get near the front again so he's calling out to us to get him there. We did what we could, but the pack wasn't exactly taking it easy so he had a little to do when we had to pull off (we being me, a cat 4, and a guy who's 50+ and has barely ridden in a month). Well I drifted back into the pack again and realized I had probably quit on him too early because I wasn't totally blown so I tried to start moving up again a little, but you know how well that works when you're right on the edge of done and there's 2 to go. The good news is I didn't go cross-eyed and crash myself or anyone else. The better news is I was able to get out of the saddle and weave through a few guys on my way forward in the finale. The mediocre news is I was going hard for maybe 20th place.
Computer thingy told me we were a spirited 27.5 mph for this little affair. Maxed out at 34 and change when I made my blistering move to close a whole 6 second gap ;) Really not a whole lot I can complain about. Oh... and I got to ride with some guys who are pretty good...
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
You wanna play, you gotta pay
Spent the weekend in Toronto watching the Red Sox play 2 days worth of bad baseball and one day of good baseball. Sadly I got there Friday to discover that there was a downtown crit up the road that I could neither participate in nor spectate. Overall the weekend was fantastic and I'd gladly head back up there anytime... gotta bring the boys though if for no other reason than the visit mecca.
Unfortunately, since I spent the weekend goofing off and came home very late Sunday, I am now receiving a thorough all-around beating. Work, laundry, lawn care, bills... you name it, it's in my lap now. And this all leads to no training of any sort since Saturday with the outlook looking grim... may have to go back to the 4:30's (shudder)...
Unfortunately, since I spent the weekend goofing off and came home very late Sunday, I am now receiving a thorough all-around beating. Work, laundry, lawn care, bills... you name it, it's in my lap now. And this all leads to no training of any sort since Saturday with the outlook looking grim... may have to go back to the 4:30's (shudder)...
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Can I get a WTF?
I got the rare chance to do a long-ish ride after work today. I headed out wearing a winter weight jersey, bib shorts, leg warmers, wool socks, full finger gloves, and a light winter hat to cover my ears. I probably should have also had a vest and shoe covers. Any yes, Monday is June 1.
The only consolation is that it was a pretty awesome ride despite the numbness...
The only consolation is that it was a pretty awesome ride despite the numbness...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
What's the O stand for? Oh my God it's early.
A combination of weather and little league schedules showed me that my only opportunity to ride today was on the gerbil wheel in the garage at 4:30 a.m. It sucked less than I feared, but I don't want to make a habit of it. The kicker will be when tonight's game is rained out. Ah well, that'd give me the chance to get my arse kicked in some video games by the little Wii hustlers that live with me. That's ok... I won't be traumatized by losing to them until it happens in a bike race/running race/basketball game/etc... hopefully I have a few more years before that happens.
Monday, May 25, 2009
If Rich doesn't blog, does anyone even notice?
Wow, how'd I go so long without posting... completely lost track. This odd thing called free time sort of snuck up on me and revealed all these wonderful things I can do like sleeping, playing with those short people who live in my house, and bringing my yard back up to acceptable community standards. It's actually been an awesomely productive and relaxing weekend (sort of). Kicked it off with the ride to and from work Friday, nice little early morning beat-down ride Saturday followed by a very full day of yard work, more yard work and some more riding Sunday, 9 holes of golf early today followed by a 2 hour + MTB ride and the cookout and beers start soon. You probably agree that it sounds awesome... go ahead, be jealous... it's ok ;) Hopefully everyone else is enjoying the hell out of themselves too.
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't send a giant thanks to all the vets and current service men and women. I could never do what they have done and words can't possibly say thank you properly, but I'll send it out anyways...
Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't send a giant thanks to all the vets and current service men and women. I could never do what they have done and words can't possibly say thank you properly, but I'll send it out anyways...
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt
First off I want to issue a gigantic CONGRATULATIONS to my lovely wife who has completed her master's degree with her sanity (mostly) intact. In the past 5 years she gave birth (again), got three hyperactive little boys pointed in what seems like a good direction in life, worked full time, had fairly major knee surgery, kicked some pretty serious butt on the soccer field, completed a master's degree, and, amazingly, put up with me. I may even give her a break and not heckle her about watching reality TV for a while ;)
Now some of you (all 3 of you) may have noticed that I was strangely quiet about having completed grad school myself. I wouldn't say I'm superstitious per-se, but I definitely do try to follow a bit of the "don't count your chickens before they're hatched" mindset. One of my two professors literally waited until the very last second to turn in our grades to the registrar so I was left hanging for an extra 6 days to find out how I did in my final class. To be honest I was a tiny bit concerned because I hadn't done stellar on the midterm and the final just simply sucked... like 2.5 hours of pure suck. Turns out taking the day off from work to study must have paid off because it seems I did genuinely ok. So now, finally, as of 5 a.m. today I can breathe the big sigh of relief and say "I'M DONE!" Why don't we throw in a "WOO-HOO!" and a "YAH-BABY!" just for good measure. Calendar time, I was at this for 9.5 years. That included a 4 year hiatus and a couple of skipped semesters when we were elbows deep in newborn diapers. It's an incredible relief to be finished... and now I can wear the t-shirt :)
Now some of you (all 3 of you) may have noticed that I was strangely quiet about having completed grad school myself. I wouldn't say I'm superstitious per-se, but I definitely do try to follow a bit of the "don't count your chickens before they're hatched" mindset. One of my two professors literally waited until the very last second to turn in our grades to the registrar so I was left hanging for an extra 6 days to find out how I did in my final class. To be honest I was a tiny bit concerned because I hadn't done stellar on the midterm and the final just simply sucked... like 2.5 hours of pure suck. Turns out taking the day off from work to study must have paid off because it seems I did genuinely ok. So now, finally, as of 5 a.m. today I can breathe the big sigh of relief and say "I'M DONE!" Why don't we throw in a "WOO-HOO!" and a "YAH-BABY!" just for good measure. Calendar time, I was at this for 9.5 years. That included a 4 year hiatus and a couple of skipped semesters when we were elbows deep in newborn diapers. It's an incredible relief to be finished... and now I can wear the t-shirt :)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Sterling Stories
I've gone back and forth with myself repeatedly about how much of a writeup to do on my race and I finally decided the short version was for the best all around. We had a strong squad of 6 in the race, but there was some apparent mis-communication with regard to some plans that had been discussed for the race. The end result was me completely burying myself on lap 3, trying to sit in and recover on lap 4, trying an attack approaching the end of lap 4 and completely exploding, and ultimately coming in about a minute back of the pack. I've managed to continue my poor history at Sterling and I have to say that road racing so far this year has been very un-fun. But enough of that...
I got back to the school and changed up right away. I was already booked to drive follow for the 3/4's at 1:whenever, but then a driver no-showed so I got asked to do the 4/5 <35 also. It was a short race and the official was my best friend who randomly decided to become an official this year so it was all good. Two interesting stories from this race: 1) There were guys who literally had their numbers written down as being dropped before we even got up the hill to the official start of the race. I think that qualifies as a bad day. 2) We had fallen behind a little while working our way around dropped riders and came upon a crash out on the back streets. There were only 2 guys down I think, but one of them was laying in the gutter with a pile of shredded carbon next to him. He somehow had snapped his frame at the head tube on the top tube and on the downtube just up from the bottom bracket. And this was on a slight uphill. I have no freaking clue how.
Then it's on to 3/4 follow duties and I found out that I'd be driving around the same official who had earlier had to speak to be about a bit of a yellow-line infraction. It was a marginal situation where I had carried too much momentum into the section of rte 12 where the dotted white line (virtual yellow) shows up and comes into play and I passed a couple guys before squeezing in. He pulled up and reminded me and I apologized like a good cooperative racer. We had a laugh later and he told me he just wanted everyone to know he was paying attention. So remember, be kind to the officials because you may spend 2 hours in the car with them some day (or that same day). Ok, where was I... Oh yah... so the Pro's go off first, then the 3/4's, then the pro ladies. So we cruise around for a while and then we hear some radio chatter about the Pro's catching the women... they apparently make the pass ok and then we hear an update that there's a couple women up the road, then a small chase group, then the rest of the women are everywhere. So we go a bit more and see that we're going to catch the women's chase group, but there's a problem. By now, the women's chase is about 1:30 down to the break. We also have a group of about 10 up the road by about 1:30. So neutralizing either field basically decides that race for them. So the finger crossing begins that everyone will meet up on route 12 where there's tons of room to make a pass. Of course it doesn't happen that way. Thinking back now, the details are a little fuzzy, but I believe we managed to pass the chase group rather cleanly on the hill, but now the women's lead is in play. Sure enough, we start to catch them before we get to 12. We have also switched to leading the break because the gap was still growing. I still don't know how exactly it happened, but coming up the last narrow hill before you go down to 12, we catch the SRAM car that had been trailing the women's lead and some random car that had gotten on the course AND THEY STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! So we've got a charging pack behind my truck and we have to come to a dead stop. You can imagine the chaos that ensued, but fortunately I don't think anyone went down. At the same time, as much as it was an out of control situation, the racers didn't exactly handle it well either because 1) as the official reminded me, you are NEVER supposed to pass your lead vehicle unless told to, and 2) there were all kinds of obscenities flying from behind us from people evidently forgetting that the official for their race was sitting in the car. So the pack goes around us and the other cars, we get on the radio to give a big WTF to everyone who can hear, and we proceed on our way. But wait... it gets better. So now we hit 12 and the group has caught the two lead women. We are not yet back ahead of the group and are trailing them. So they take it upon themselves to swarm around the two women and their lead car, but just as their about the complete the pass they basically sit up. Now, the women's lead car is having to honk at them and basically let the ladies draft off the car. We go to the front and basically tell the guys that they're going to have to drive the pace for a while to get the hell out of the way or we're going to have to just simply pull them over and wait. FINALLY, the whole thing managed to sort itself out going up the hills the next time, but we had basically a full lap of total chaos until it did. It's hard to say that much could have been done differently other than just recognizing earlier that we were going to catch the support car when we did and just neutralizing the men until we hit a more open area. The break was teetering right on the edge of being out of reach so it was a tough call and they wouldn't have been happy, but they weren't happy riding into the back of my truck either so it was a no win. Regardless, I still contend that every racer should try driving for a road race some day. You learn and see a lot that I think makes you appreciate both the official's job and the race as a whole more.
Despite the chaos, I hope all who were there enjoyed. Don't know when I'm racing again... my training the past 3 weeks has been suspect with all the school stuff I had so I should probably get that back on track. I also need to cutover to the dirt at some point to get ready for Pat's Peak, Great Glen, and CX. We'll see...
I got back to the school and changed up right away. I was already booked to drive follow for the 3/4's at 1:whenever, but then a driver no-showed so I got asked to do the 4/5 <35 also. It was a short race and the official was my best friend who randomly decided to become an official this year so it was all good. Two interesting stories from this race: 1) There were guys who literally had their numbers written down as being dropped before we even got up the hill to the official start of the race. I think that qualifies as a bad day. 2) We had fallen behind a little while working our way around dropped riders and came upon a crash out on the back streets. There were only 2 guys down I think, but one of them was laying in the gutter with a pile of shredded carbon next to him. He somehow had snapped his frame at the head tube on the top tube and on the downtube just up from the bottom bracket. And this was on a slight uphill. I have no freaking clue how.
Then it's on to 3/4 follow duties and I found out that I'd be driving around the same official who had earlier had to speak to be about a bit of a yellow-line infraction. It was a marginal situation where I had carried too much momentum into the section of rte 12 where the dotted white line (virtual yellow) shows up and comes into play and I passed a couple guys before squeezing in. He pulled up and reminded me and I apologized like a good cooperative racer. We had a laugh later and he told me he just wanted everyone to know he was paying attention. So remember, be kind to the officials because you may spend 2 hours in the car with them some day (or that same day). Ok, where was I... Oh yah... so the Pro's go off first, then the 3/4's, then the pro ladies. So we cruise around for a while and then we hear some radio chatter about the Pro's catching the women... they apparently make the pass ok and then we hear an update that there's a couple women up the road, then a small chase group, then the rest of the women are everywhere. So we go a bit more and see that we're going to catch the women's chase group, but there's a problem. By now, the women's chase is about 1:30 down to the break. We also have a group of about 10 up the road by about 1:30. So neutralizing either field basically decides that race for them. So the finger crossing begins that everyone will meet up on route 12 where there's tons of room to make a pass. Of course it doesn't happen that way. Thinking back now, the details are a little fuzzy, but I believe we managed to pass the chase group rather cleanly on the hill, but now the women's lead is in play. Sure enough, we start to catch them before we get to 12. We have also switched to leading the break because the gap was still growing. I still don't know how exactly it happened, but coming up the last narrow hill before you go down to 12, we catch the SRAM car that had been trailing the women's lead and some random car that had gotten on the course AND THEY STOP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD! So we've got a charging pack behind my truck and we have to come to a dead stop. You can imagine the chaos that ensued, but fortunately I don't think anyone went down. At the same time, as much as it was an out of control situation, the racers didn't exactly handle it well either because 1) as the official reminded me, you are NEVER supposed to pass your lead vehicle unless told to, and 2) there were all kinds of obscenities flying from behind us from people evidently forgetting that the official for their race was sitting in the car. So the pack goes around us and the other cars, we get on the radio to give a big WTF to everyone who can hear, and we proceed on our way. But wait... it gets better. So now we hit 12 and the group has caught the two lead women. We are not yet back ahead of the group and are trailing them. So they take it upon themselves to swarm around the two women and their lead car, but just as their about the complete the pass they basically sit up. Now, the women's lead car is having to honk at them and basically let the ladies draft off the car. We go to the front and basically tell the guys that they're going to have to drive the pace for a while to get the hell out of the way or we're going to have to just simply pull them over and wait. FINALLY, the whole thing managed to sort itself out going up the hills the next time, but we had basically a full lap of total chaos until it did. It's hard to say that much could have been done differently other than just recognizing earlier that we were going to catch the support car when we did and just neutralizing the men until we hit a more open area. The break was teetering right on the edge of being out of reach so it was a tough call and they wouldn't have been happy, but they weren't happy riding into the back of my truck either so it was a no win. Regardless, I still contend that every racer should try driving for a road race some day. You learn and see a lot that I think makes you appreciate both the official's job and the race as a whole more.
Despite the chaos, I hope all who were there enjoyed. Don't know when I'm racing again... my training the past 3 weeks has been suspect with all the school stuff I had so I should probably get that back on track. I also need to cutover to the dirt at some point to get ready for Pat's Peak, Great Glen, and CX. We'll see...
Friday, May 08, 2009
Is it too early to start a CX discussion?
Nah...
Now I'm not sure how many people out there have a first-hand perspective on this, but there's gotta be a few... Typically, which is the faster field: A-Masters or the Killer B's (2/3)? My gut feel is that the standard podium crew is faster in the Masters field than the 2/3 field, but the average pace of the field as a whole may be higher in the B's. I could be way off on this, it's always seemed however like Mark and crew have a legit shot at the front end of a pro race where I'm not so confident about Colin and friends (no offense intended man... I still can't carry your water bottles for you).
Debate/Discuss...
Now I'm not sure how many people out there have a first-hand perspective on this, but there's gotta be a few... Typically, which is the faster field: A-Masters or the Killer B's (2/3)? My gut feel is that the standard podium crew is faster in the Masters field than the 2/3 field, but the average pace of the field as a whole may be higher in the B's. I could be way off on this, it's always seemed however like Mark and crew have a legit shot at the front end of a pro race where I'm not so confident about Colin and friends (no offense intended man... I still can't carry your water bottles for you).
Debate/Discuss...
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Who knew spare time would be bad?
I'm sitting her in the library at school (hopefully) 3.5 hours away from the conclusion of my graduate academic career... and that's the problem. The way my final night lined up was that I had to give a presentation for my 5 p.m. class and then I have a final in my 7:30 class. This final is nearly guaranteed to be a beatdown to the point that I took today off from work to study. So by the time I got here for the presentation, I was at mental saturation anyways and I just wanted this night to be over. Well there were only 2 groups due to give 15-20 minute presentations in the early class so we finished before 6. That gave me another 1.5 hours I hadn't planned on having to stew about this final. And you know how it goes when you've crammed for something... there's a breaking point where you start confusing yourself or questioning what you know, but regardless, you're not gaining anything. And just throwing in the towel, closing the books, and going to the library to blog doesn't make the final start (or end) any sooner...
Monday, May 04, 2009
Blue Hills Race Report
This is about all I've got for you kids (scale of plot withheld to protect the untalented). Prizes for anyone who can do a witty job of captioning/adding commentary.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
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