Yeah, so yesterday was the debut with the new team, and overall it was a pretty rough day. Rite Aid (pro) was there and decided to drop some serious bombs early in the race. The majority of our squad was still caught up in the mess that was the field when Rite Aid got three, yes three, guys off in a 5 man move. By the time we got our guys up to the front en mass the gap was at 1:00. Despite our best efforts we just didn't make much headway at bringing the break back. In related news I gassed myself pretty badly and went from taking pulls on the front to sucking hind tit in the bat of an eyelash as we hit a steep little kicker. Racing is not so much fun when you are not at the fitness level you are accustomed to, so I plan on hitting it pretty hard in the next few weeks. I hope that the team fared a bit better at Jeff Cup today. I know a lot of them were busting their ass yestarday and It is frustrating that I was not able to b of more help.
On the brighter side of things, Bloomer, my LSV teammate who also races for Hopkins notched the Vee in the 3/4 race attacking out of a four man break with just under one km to go. Propers.
The racing here is pretty competitive and we had 99 guys and one lady (Van Guilder) line up for the start. The centerline rule is not observed or enforced. We had two moto-officials in our race and they were doing their best to push the riders back over the line, but it was all really in vain.
I hope that all of my midwest-peeps had fun at hillsboro. I was a bit sad to not be there with you all, but at the same time i didn't miss riding in the gutter for 88 miles. I did 60 at my race and that was enough.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
THe real season starts tomorrow...
While My midwest peeps are lining up for the official season opener at the Hillsboro-Roubaix, I'll be heading up to PA Dutch country to race with my new team. I'm a bit excited to throw down with the new team, but I'm a bit of an outsider as I'm not an official "Elite Team" member. I hope that the good karma that I built up with the non elite Turin guys pays dividends this year. I'm not in great form so I think I'll offer my services as a worker bee.
It has been a long time since I've been to that area of PA and it can be a little like going back in time. here is what the promoter had to say:
"Lancaster County is one of the most conservative places on the planet and as such curse words, public nudity/urination and definitely public fornication are frowned upon."
I can buy into the first two, but if these people are not down with public fornication, there are gonna be some disturbed citizens when the orgy breaks out after the race.
Good luck to those doing hillsboro.
It has been a long time since I've been to that area of PA and it can be a little like going back in time. here is what the promoter had to say:
"Lancaster County is one of the most conservative places on the planet and as such curse words, public nudity/urination and definitely public fornication are frowned upon."
I can buy into the first two, but if these people are not down with public fornication, there are gonna be some disturbed citizens when the orgy breaks out after the race.
Good luck to those doing hillsboro.
Monday, March 10, 2008
God: The rainmaker and the provider of blind dates...
So I'm at a conference this week and that means I have some free time in the hotel to update this here bloggy. The past few days have been pretty hectic with travel and all, but I've got some good stories.
1. I put in a nice 2.5 hours in the rain on Saturday. I really like riding in the rain. This probably has to do with the novelty of it all, but in some respects it reduces the bike ride to simply a bike ride. Often times we get caught up in the training rut and forget what it is like to just go out and ride. Rainy rides allow me to just go out and slog away with no motive other than it is better then sitting in my house getting pudgy.
2. Traveling is always a good time. I usually manage to come away with a few good nuggets. On my flight from Jackson MS to Houston, TX I sat next to a nice couple about my parents age. Conversation was pretty mundane, the usual what do you do for a living etc. That was until the topic of religion came up. The woman, Cathy, politely asked for my view on evolution/creationism seeing as I'm a man of science. My Number one rule is that I don't discuss religion with people. There is really no point to it all as faith is based on... well faith. The Hitchhikers Guide has an interesting take on this.
Anyway, I deflected the question by stating that IF you have faith you don't need an explanation and that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs blah blah blah... Apparently I made a good impression as she proceeded to set me up on a blind date with her niece. Fucking bizarre. Well there is no date set per-se, but she has my phone number.
3. Lastly I hung out with some Brown people tonight. That is, people from Brown University, and not the brown people of the Indian/Pakistani persuasion. A new colleague of mine that works on the same project is a recent graduate from Brown and invited me along for dinner with her former group. To make a long story short it was a good time. One dude was just like Patchett (for those who know him). Completely inappropriate and a great time to hang with. It has been a while since I've had a good laugh (since leaving C-U) and I felt very much at home.
1. I put in a nice 2.5 hours in the rain on Saturday. I really like riding in the rain. This probably has to do with the novelty of it all, but in some respects it reduces the bike ride to simply a bike ride. Often times we get caught up in the training rut and forget what it is like to just go out and ride. Rainy rides allow me to just go out and slog away with no motive other than it is better then sitting in my house getting pudgy.
2. Traveling is always a good time. I usually manage to come away with a few good nuggets. On my flight from Jackson MS to Houston, TX I sat next to a nice couple about my parents age. Conversation was pretty mundane, the usual what do you do for a living etc. That was until the topic of religion came up. The woman, Cathy, politely asked for my view on evolution/creationism seeing as I'm a man of science. My Number one rule is that I don't discuss religion with people. There is really no point to it all as faith is based on... well faith. The Hitchhikers Guide has an interesting take on this.
Anyway, I deflected the question by stating that IF you have faith you don't need an explanation and that everyone is entitled to their own beliefs blah blah blah... Apparently I made a good impression as she proceeded to set me up on a blind date with her niece. Fucking bizarre. Well there is no date set per-se, but she has my phone number.
3. Lastly I hung out with some Brown people tonight. That is, people from Brown University, and not the brown people of the Indian/Pakistani persuasion. A new colleague of mine that works on the same project is a recent graduate from Brown and invited me along for dinner with her former group. To make a long story short it was a good time. One dude was just like Patchett (for those who know him). Completely inappropriate and a great time to hang with. It has been a while since I've had a good laugh (since leaving C-U) and I felt very much at home.
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Props...
You've earned it...Looks like I've got to win a P-1-2 race soon to keep the 40 oz tally even.
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Back to Skoo...
So I started my racing season this weekend with some good old collegiate racing. Seeing as I'm back on teh right coast, I raced in the ACCC races hosted by Navy. Sat was a crit and Sun featured a nice long ITT.
The crit was a hard day for sure. Things started to blow up, and I tried to force the split with a Navy and VA Tech dude, but I was pretty much blown after one pull. We got brought back, the counter went and that was the move. The two guys I was with made the selection, but I'm lacking in the area or recovery, and I ended up in the second group. There were a few guys with teammates up the road so the pace started to drop as the group was pretty unmotivated. I decided that a workout was more important than a good finish and went to work at the front. I sat up (actually lead out the last lap) for the finish and ended up 12th.
The TT was a sufferfest and I never got into a good rhythm. My power numbers were pretty paltry. That said, I've not really done any threshold work thus far so I suppose I can't expect too much. For those that care I ended up 12th again.
Lastly big ups to the kids from the Hopkins team who have accepted me as one of their own despite me rocking the orange and blue. It was a good time traveling with them this weekend and I look forward to a few more trips with them. They've got a nice group of riders and some good talent. The ladies racked up a win in the A's and a 1st, 2nd's, and a 5th in the B's, while the guys got a 3rd and a 6th in the TT.
It sounds like I missed a interesting weekend in the MWCCC. Props to my old teammates D-rock (who notched one and a half wins), the TSK who was 2nd in the RR and 3rd in the Crit, and mademoiselle Cole who was 3rd in the RR.
The crit was a hard day for sure. Things started to blow up, and I tried to force the split with a Navy and VA Tech dude, but I was pretty much blown after one pull. We got brought back, the counter went and that was the move. The two guys I was with made the selection, but I'm lacking in the area or recovery, and I ended up in the second group. There were a few guys with teammates up the road so the pace started to drop as the group was pretty unmotivated. I decided that a workout was more important than a good finish and went to work at the front. I sat up (actually lead out the last lap) for the finish and ended up 12th.
The TT was a sufferfest and I never got into a good rhythm. My power numbers were pretty paltry. That said, I've not really done any threshold work thus far so I suppose I can't expect too much. For those that care I ended up 12th again.
Lastly big ups to the kids from the Hopkins team who have accepted me as one of their own despite me rocking the orange and blue. It was a good time traveling with them this weekend and I look forward to a few more trips with them. They've got a nice group of riders and some good talent. The ladies racked up a win in the A's and a 1st, 2nd's, and a 5th in the B's, while the guys got a 3rd and a 6th in the TT.
It sounds like I missed a interesting weekend in the MWCCC. Props to my old teammates D-rock (who notched one and a half wins), the TSK who was 2nd in the RR and 3rd in the Crit, and mademoiselle Cole who was 3rd in the RR.
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