Race updates...

Hey all, It has been a while between updates, but I've been busy racing my bicycle.

The plan at the start of the year was to step back from the bike a little bit, race less, spend more time with friends etc. As my co workers would say the goal was to let "fun Jamie" live a little more this spring and summer. Thus far I think the mission is going well, and surprisingly I'm racing as well or better than ever. I've had a handful of top-ten finishes including a 9th place dig at my first NRC crit of the year. In addition to personal exploits, the team has been killing it. We've won a few races and had been on the podium every weekend up until a week ago. Furthermore we've got a little swagger and are driving the race action.

A few weeks back I went up to Delaware to race a crit solo. I had forgotten how the dynamic changes when you are the only person from your team in the race. I liked the course, despite a spooky last corner with oncoming traffic (like the Marian crit). It actually reminded me of the winfield twilight with a less technical downhill. In any case I figured it was a day to let small groups go and use the climb to launch bridging moves. A little over halfway in a group of 4 rolled off and got a good gap. A few laps later I bridged solo. Two more came across a lap or so later and all teams were represented so we rolled away. With two to go John Minturn took a solo flyer from our group and stuck it to the line by ~10 sec. I took the sprint for second. For my efforts my teammates awarded me with the "brass balls". We've been passing these around amongst the team all season.

Race like you got a pair.

Two weekends ago several of us rolled north for the Bear Mountain spring classic in Harriman state park, NY. Our drive took us through NJ and really close to my old hood. So close that we took a detour to stop at my favorite bakery Calandra's in Fairfield. I had tried to explain how awesome this place is, but Jake was dumbstruck when he walked in. Cookies, pastries, bread, gelato, coffee, you name it. It took us 15 mins of browsing to decide what to get. I opted for the traditional Italian canolli and sfogliatelle while Jake grabbed cookies and gelato.

The course was a 21 mile "out and back" of which we did 3 3/4 laps. Each lap had a fairly steep 2-mile climb. This is where the action would go down for sure. The race never got too aggressive until the last time up the climb (which occurred with 18 or so miles to go. We hit the base of the climb and things started to heat up. I started to fade and just couldn't keep the pace. This is a strange experience as most of the races we do have short steep climbs. On those you pretty much ride all out until you pop. here I just couldn't keep the pace and slowly drifted out the back. I ended up in a chase with my teammates Jeff and Nate (who was in a break that got caught at the base of the climb). Up the road, Jake, Kevin Todd and Blair did battle. A two man group slipped away and despite our boys chasing with AXA, and Jamis the gap was never closed. They set Jake up for the sprint and he ended up taking 8th. Not his best result, but it was good enough to get him a free ride to the Nature Valley Grand Prix this summer. Super pumped for him.

This past weekend was the start of our big east coast crit season with Wilmington (NRC) and our home race, Bike Jam.

After getting shelled last year (save rick who was in the top 20) the rest of the squad was out to redeem themselves at Wilmington. The course was changed from last year to include an extra one-block square turning the course into a figure-eight. I welcomed this change as it would give a little respite from the long uphill and downhill false flat stretches that are always strung out single file.

I officially returned to bike racing by hitting the deck with ~15 laps to go. It was a low speed crash in a corner but i got run into by another rider (i think) taking a knee (?) to the head. I've never been so dazed after a crash. I made it to the pits and got pushed back in only to have it start raining a few laps later. Apparently I'm a trend setter and the entire top 20 of the field decided to fall en mass on the rain slicked downhill of the course. I was able to slip by without any trouble and stayed in the top 20 for the rest of the race. A few guys took flyers off the front a got away. It was just too hard to chase as a group with the wet turns. I ended up 5th in the sprint and 9th over all. The rest of the guys got shuffled back in the crashes and todd was just out of the money in 31st.

Sunday was our home race, Bike Jam. The team had some great results with Nima wining the masters 35+ race out of a 4-man break including Rick. Probably the most impressive win of the day was by Michael Choen in the Cat IV race. He went solo with 5-6 laps to go and stuck it by 8 seconds at the line. Alex and a few other teammates did a great job defending the break, somewhat unusual for that level of racing. It was great to see our team represent at home.

In the P/1/2 race the plan was to be aggressive and try to spring a break that we could win from. We were aggressive but the pro teams there were looking for a field sprint so despite our best efforts it just wasn't to be. We certainly animated the race with lots of attacks, and Evan and Nate were able to grab some primes along the way. We all got a bit bunched for the finish and ended up 14th (me), 15th (Jeff), 19th (Jake), and the rest of the squad back in the bunch. I'm really proud of the way we raced and think that we are going to get some great results at the upcoming big races (CSC, AirForce Classic, etc).

The highlight of the weekend has to be racing at home in front of friends. I have to give big shouts out to my Housemates Laura, and Stacy who showed up with signs.

I love my girls.

Stacy was also bold enough to bring her Father (visiting from out of town) and her Beau, Chuck to the race; they all had a good time. Lastly the crew from Team That's What She Said was there in force. While they are mostly runners they always have a good time watching us ride in circles.

Fuggin BS...

WOW, I was not at this race but the majority of our local racers were. Apparently some one took the liberty to throw tacks on the course several time throughout the day. Below is a video of a rider flatting his tire (tack was still in the tire after the crash) just as he enters a corner. I think that most everyone came out without any serious damage to body or bike, but I hope that the people that placed the tacks are caught and brought to justice. If anyone popped a collar bone and the idiots get caught I figure the tack dropper(s) are gonna get sued by the insurance company.

Leonardtown Crash from Bryan Vaughan on Vimeo.

Spring Break days 1 & 2...

As some of you know I took a little vacation this past week. I headed to the mountains of North Carolina for a little bike riding with the U of Wisconsin cycling team. One the front end of the trip I swung through Charlottesville, VA for the beginning of the racing season: the Jeff Cup Road Race.

I had a relaxing saturday morning which consisted of an easy spin and packing my shit for a week long bike vacation. Lots of spandex and a few t-shirts was all I really needed. Tank on the other hand brought a full suitcase and a laundry basket full of clothing. I got on the road in the late afternoon as I was to arrive in C-Ville a little before 8PM, where I would rendezvous with Sophia for some dinner.

It had been about 2 years since we had last seen each other (bike and build?), and it was nice to catch up. Sadly, she was in the middle of a big mid-term review for one of her arch classes so her time was limited. This may sound strange but this is one of the first times I've noticed the one of my friends is growing up. I think mostly this has to do with our age difference and the long gap between seeing each other. In any case Sophia is not the same girl I remember from our days in C-U or at bike and build. A lot can change in a few years. It is not even a level of maturity (she has always been mature), it is more her perspective in life; a little more far sighted. Though the time spent was brief, it was good to catch up, and I'm glad to say that one of my friends is on her way to a good life.

After spending the night on Sophia's floor I stumbled out into a cold rainy morning in search of a proper bike race breakfast, while she ran off to the Gym and then back to the studio. I located the nearest diner and ordered the largest breakfast plate they had to offer. After eating I headed over to the race course to do some last min bike maintenance and suit up for the race.

The weather was chilly with light showers coming and going, the day had potential to be brutal, but only time would tell. We had a solid crew of 8 in the 1/2/3 race and planned on playing it cool for the first few laps and then trying to get a few of our strong guys into a good break. I was on escort duty, with R, to shepherd our two protected riders (Evan and Blair).

For the most part things went as planned, We covered early moves, and then started to animate the race. About halfway through the 77 mile race the skies opened up. A cool day quickly turned into a downright frigid one. Low 40's with cold pouring rain are not the ideal race conditions. Shortly after the rain started we put the right guys up the road with Blair, Evan and R making the winning break. Back in the field we did our best to shut things down and let the gap get out to a comfortable margin. Up front things got interesting with the main break fragmenting into several smaller groups. Blair ended up in the lead break with two others and finished 3rd. A little ways back, Evan and R took 5th and 7th, while Jeff Took the bunch sprint on my group for 9th. I was 17th and pretty well destroyed I tried to sprint, but my legs just struggled to turn the pedals over. To sum it up I think we raced really well. We put the right guys in the right move(s), and while getting 3rd out of a 3 man break is a little disappointing, it is a bike race,and sometimes doing things right is not enough. For sure the weather conditions played a factor in the outcome.

In typical L@13MPH fashion I'll drop some lyrics:

"Charmed but the weather broke me sober. I've never been colder"

--sneaker pimps, flowers and silence

I can honestly say that I've never been colder on the bike, even in all of my days of winter riding in Illinois. I'm also fairly certain I was not the only one experiencing problems. On the last lap I had to use my right hand to shift my front derailleur because my left hand was too cold to move my wrist and fingers. After the finish I rode back to the cars (~2 miles) with Blair who apparently developed a nasty case of cold induced Tourette syndrome. We're rolling along when he starts blurting out guttural noises and shaking uncontrollably for a second or two, then back to normal. This continued about once per minute on the way back to the car. He was in a pretty bad way. We also passed a NCVC rider that was shaking so badly that he fell off of his bike (well it looked like he was trying to stop and dismount), but the end result was him on the ground.

After changing and warming up a bit I hit the road to Bryson City, NC and the Nantahala Outdoor Center; cycling home base for the next week. I'll post some recaps of my week down south in the next few days. For the most part is was a pretty typical spring break trip: booze, nudity, fights, toothbrushes, condoms, mustaches, people shitting themselves, and some pretty killer bike riding. Stay tuned.

I Know that dude...

While flipping through images of SSCXWC 2009 I found myself saying "I know that dude" in my best Jeff Spicoli impression when I saw this image.


That is the one and only Dirty Mike dead center with the bills stuffed in his undies. Glad to see that my old crew is keeping it real. There are some really good shots at CXmag so be sure to check them out.

It's all over...

My bike racing season is over, that is.

Overall it was a really fun year, and I felt like I was racing at the level I am capable of. Since it has been a while since I've updated here is a quick rundown since July 15th:

Sterling turned 21, we drank lots, and I offended the new girl that works at STScI with Alex.

I turned 32 shortly thereafter. It was a gala affair and the girls at work made me some goodies. Sadly The festivities were cut short as I came down with the Swine Flu (yes, really... I was diagnosed). The university deemed that I would get a 7 day "vacation" as a present, and I went batshit crazy after a few days of solitary.

I nursed myself back to health, and started racing again just in time to see my teammate Nate really come into form. Fresh off the podium (2nd place) at Junior Natz, he nabbed 2nd at our regional championship road race.

From there it was on to Millersburg for a two day three stage race (ITT, Crit and RR). Nate was a rockstar and ended up winning the RR and was 2nd on GC. I felt pretty snappy, and managed to win the bunch sprint behind Nate and his breakaway companions for 4th on the stage. The team races so well at this race. We were in every move and animated the hell out of the race. This is becoming my new favorite event. The racing is great, and our host family (Duane and Juandeen) are the best. They took such good care of us the past two years, and I can't wait to go back.

With the season winding down our team numbers started to dwindle but I was able to hook up with a few teammates for a few races. My last weekend of racing would be a Twilight crit in Wiles-Barre, PA, then PA RR championship, and a crit in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Wilkes-Barre Twilight: C-Dubs and I were the only guys from the Amateur team, Shane and Clay were there representing the pro squad. We started in Twilight, ended in pitch black. Bryan Vaughan had his helmet cam on, so check it out. If you've never raced a crit this will give you an idea of what is going on. If you have raced a crit forward to the last 10-15 mins and you'll get an idea of how dark it was. I felt pretty crap, so I decided it was not the night do get in a break. I gambled on Hunting for primes and the hope that it would be a bunch sprint. I kinda pushed on that one as i nabbed a $50 crowd prime, but the winning move of 7 went away shortly thereafter. The sprint was hairy with a big stack that ate curtis on the last lap, but I kept it upright and finished 16th. Not a great result, but ending up in the $$ seems to make it seem like a successful race.

PA RR Championship: Todd, Blair and I lined up for 91 miles of rolling terrain on a pretty fun course. No huge hills, but enough up and down to thin it out. The boys were active early. A group of two got away, countering either Balir's or Todd's move. They got a gap quickly, Two more slipped away and then I jumped across. After a little solo effort, I grouped up with the two chasers and we caught the leaders in short order. From there it was a long day of paceline work. Our gap was sitting at 1-2 mins for most of the day. Apparently the big guns were happy to give us some leash, but we never ballooned out. We got caught with ~15 miles to go. I felt good at first, but the pace dropped and my legs shut down. With ~2 miles to go there was an attack up a small climb, and I just popped. Todd battled it out and was just inside the top 10.

Basking Ridge crit: Blair and I were the only representatives of our squad. Todd needed to spend some QT with the wife. This was my first time racing in my "home" state of NJ. The course was hard, with a few long false flat drags and a blazing downhill finish. Blair took an early exit when some dude stacked in front of him. I was active and had a good gap with one other guy in the middle of the race, but we needed another rider or two to make it stick. I was hoping for a bridge, and he seemed to be interested in not working too hard so we got caught. I countered as soon as we were caught, but no one else came along and it was a short lived move. A group of 4 got away and stuck it. I was 5th in the bunch for 9th on the day. Got some bills for my hard work, which was a bonus as the race was pretty fun.

I ran into an old friend, Jeff Lenosky, who is still killing it on the trials bike. He was doing Demos a the race and we shot the shit a bit after my race. The cycling community is so tiny, it is always a blast to show up to an event and see some people you've been out of touch with for a few years.

With that I've decided to hang up the wheels for another year. Next year is going to be interesting as I'm looking for a Job as a professor, and I might have to take a step back from racing for a little while.

Banner weekend...for falling down...

Man, it was a bad weekend for my two wheeled brethren. I suppose that it all started mid-week with Rick getting an infected saddle sore excised. I guess that it was so bad that the doc ended up removing a 2"x2" piece of his ass. Rick is about six feet tall and weighs a buck-forty, so by my calculations they removed an entire cheek.

On Saturday, Ryan M, of Team That's What She Said fame, got in a car accident...sort of. He was out for a spin getting ready for a triathlon on Sunday when some dude pulled out in front of him. Ryan t-boned the dudes car, destroying his bike. Initial reports are that Ryan is mostly unscathed, which is good news. This incident is further proof that God hates triathletes. I've railed against the tri-peeps for years now, but I've given up on it. You see, tri-peeps treat their sport like a religion, and if I've learned anything during my stay on this earth is that you don't try to change peoples views on religion. I've also learned that worshiping false idols (or at least lesser deities)is a bad idea, and from time to time the guy in charge must smite a person that has strayed from the flock to remind people who is boss.

A little closer to home (Hagerstown, MD) was the location of another bike related injury. While racing in the MABRA championship crit, my teammate Blair got tangled up (rather ran over) another rider that wanted to test how hard the pavement was. Apparently Blair didn't believe the results of the first test, and decided to take a closer look by smashing his face into said pavement. The numbers have been crunched and with a small margin of error the pavement in turn three is "fucking hard". Now most of you are asking, "how hard is that?". Hard enough to leave a two inch gash over his eye, an nickel sized hole in is chin, and a jaw bone that is in two pieces. I'm super bummed as Blair has been riding well and we'll miss him in the field for the next few weeks while he is eating out of a blender (scroll to 3:58 and listen). I'm telling you man, pea soup is the bomb.

I've already poured libations (I was dying for a mint julep on Monday night) in the hopes that the gods will allow you all to heal quickly, and keep the rest of us out of harms way.

Updates...

Sorry for the lack of updates at Fitchburg. Internet access was sparse, and I was pretty worn out from the race action.

I forgot to mention that le TSK graced us with his presence during the 40-44 RR on his way to visit his fams on Hilton Head. It has been a while since we'd seen each other and it was nice to catch up. I think we are both nearing a point in our lives when bike racing is going to take a back seat for a while. John starts medical school in the fall and he's thinking that he'll be transitioning from face smasher/axe murderer to med student that can still win bike races.

On Wed morning Todd Raced the Masters Nats Time Trial while I chilled in the parking lot in preparation for a marathon session of driving to Fitchburg, MA via my parents place near Bling-Blinghamton, NY. Oh yeah the TT starts were delayed by 2 hours because the course was not able to be secured. Obviously someone (promoter?) screwed up bigtime with the traffic control.

Todd in the start house.

We got to my 'rents by 11:00PM, grabbed some grub and hit the rack. We had to be on the road by 7:30 or so to make our TT start times. The drive went well despite some crazy rain. Along the way we saw this van.

WTF???

Apparently the scooter store thought that having a picture of a WWII vet dressed in his bomber jacket, leather cap and goggles "tearing ass" at 5mph on a scooter through a forrest of cartoon cacti was a good marketing move. That or it is just a medicare racket and they painted the van this way to give the finger to the government. Neither option leaves me with a good feeling.

The TT at Fitch was interesting as the fog was pretty thick, reducing visibility to a few hundred meters at best. The road surface was good, and we al kept the rubber-side down.

Todd and I were pretty exhausted so I went into max recovery mode; I was in bed by 8:30 that night.

Friday was the fitchburg Circuit race. This race was insane in so many ways. 24 laps of a 3 mile loop with a super steep climb, and wicked fast downhill. 175 guys getting argy bargy trying to stay in good position. Oh yeah, about half way through the race the skies opened up. Lots of people fell down and I think I picked up 4 pounds of sand from the road spray. I felt like crap and ended up losing a lap to the field, fortunately we were allowed to reintegrate with the field so the time loss was minimal. Jake, and Jeff finished with the main bunch, while Todd and Blair had some mechanical issues and lost a little time.

Saturday was a 110 mile RR on an 11 mile loop with a pretty serious climb to and after the finish. There was also a stupid fast downhill. I set a new record for speed on two wheels, this was on the first lap while surrounded by 170 other racers.

58.7 MPH, silly fast.

I often comment on motorcycle riders that don't wear helmets and leathers, but I guess that I'm just as dumb. Spandex is not gonna help much if you come off at ~60MPH.

The pace was ballistic from the gun and I got spat out of the bunch the second time up the climb. Fortunately a good number of guys got shelled the first time up the climb so I was able to ride easy and ended up in the autobus for a 25 person group ride. Blair and Jake hung tough and finished with the main group.

Sunday was a 55 mile crit with a slight uphill drag to the finish. The pace was pretty chill for the first six laps. After that some attacks animated the race, and a small group got away. It was still pretty easy to sit and move in the bunch, but with 15 or so laps to go the the chase heated up with Bissell and Kelly vying for the overall. I was tail gunning and had to close some gaps, but I managed to finish in the bunch, as did the rest of our boys.

All in all it was a good week of racing. A bit too much time in the car and being ill before we left lead to some crap legs, but it was good training if nothing else.

Geriatric nationals day 3: USAC shits the bed, several times...

Today was a low down dirty dirty shame. With championship jerseys on the line race organization should be top notch, but today was a mess. There were several events that took place that directly affected the outcome of two races.

In the 35-39 race there was a group of 5-6 off the front. A crash took out two or three riders and in the fray, The break sat up a bit to try to figure out what to do, but one rider decided to keep the hammer down and rolled away. He was solo for a few laps. He was at least a minute up on the field when he flatted. He pulled over toy get a wheel from Shimano neutral support, but they just drove right by. Apparently they though he was a dropped rider. Would he have stayed away? probably not, but if nothing else he would have gotten back in the field and had a chance at the win.

In the 40-44 race the officials screwed big time. The race had 100 starters, and it was on from the gun so people were shelled left a right. lap traffic was a problem. with 2 laps to go a group of four had a 40 sec lead over the main pack, and there was chase of 5 or so in between. With one lap to go the lead had shuffled a bit with 2 riders leading the chase group of 7-8 and the field charging hard. Apparently the moto refs and the lap counters can't keep track of the leaders the two leaders did not get the bell lap. It is not clear what the chase group had been told, but i think they got the bell. Coming into the finish, the two leaders were about 5 seconds up on the chasers, that is within sight.

The course was a bit strange with the finish line not being part of the main loop so that you had to go straight/right at the top of the hill instead of making a left to continue on the course. The lead moto took the two leaders left for an extra lap, and a few of the chasers followed. Some on the chasers were paying attention and went right/straight to the line. One of these smart men won. Rick put in a huge solo bridge and managed to close the gap to a few seconds by the finishing climb and ended up in 5th passing some of the people that made the wrong turn.

After the debacle that took place at U-23 nationals last year I've pretty much lost all faith in the blue shirts. Officiating is a difficult and thankless job, but today the officials stole something from a few riders, and cheapened the national champion jersey that was awarded in the 40-44 Road Race.

Geriatric nationals day 2: Road Race flail, epic flail...

Ugghhhh, That pretty much sums it up.

Todd and I lined up for the 30-34 age category road race today. Weather was pretty much perfect, and we had 13 (lucky) laps of a 5 mile course that was pretty much like every roller-coaster ride i've ever been on. Slow grinds going up, stupid fast descents, and corners that make you hold on for dear life. Also, I felt as if I might vomit a few times. This course would be a blast to do a group ride on.

It was a bit of a reunion as I ran into Luke Seemann from CBR before the race and then I lined up next to Tom Burke (former West Mich. Coast Rider). Cycling is such a tight community that It you're bound to run into several people you know at just about any race you attend.

The race started off quickly with DC velo sending Josh Frick from the gun. The gap quickly grew to 40 seconds and then the bridge attempts started. It was pretty much a bar fight from this point on. I chased a dangerous attack through the feed zone on the 4th or 5th lap which damn near killed me. I finally recovered only to have another dangerous group roll off. Todd had been really active and I thought that I needed to pitch in as the field seemed content to let it go. I kept the group in striking distance until we hit the base of the major climb. The group went ballistic up the climb, and I got shelled. I chased through the chaff that was shed on the next climb, and ended up in a three man chase group for most of the day. Todd continued to battle, and just missed getting across to the winning move. BIg ups to Rick and Nima for getting me bottles, it was a warm day and every ounce of liquid was needed.

I'm not one to call people out over the internet, but today something happened that stuck in my craw. On the last lap, our group of three started picking up riders, none of them even attempted to contribute to getting to the line as quickly as possible. Let me make this very clear, I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE SITTING ON IN THIS SITUATION. We've all be shelled and just want to get things over with; some times sucking wheels is the only option. What I do have a problem with is when some ass, Jacob McGahey, decides to sprint for the line. I made my displeasure known to the folks around the finish line by sitting up and pointing at Jacob McGahey as we crossed the line and shouted something to the degree "That dude is awesome, he just got 15th place after sitting on for an entire lap". I was hoping that Dave Towle would publicly chastise him over the PA, but no suck luck. More so than any other the race, at National Championships the only place that really matters is first. I truly hope that the 16th place finisher, Jacob McGahey, will be remembered for being a feckless weenie

Podium(s)...

Yes kiddies, It has been a while since I've had a finish worthy of standing on some numbered boxes, but my luck changed this weekend. This weekend was chock full of good racing and circuit race courses. Saturday was SoYoCo, a 2.5 mile loop with a nice mile long false flat to a steep kicker 300 m to the line. We had limited numbers (with Just three of us) so we tried to mark/jump into moves rather than initiating them. Todd had some bad luck and flatted out about halfway into the race. The short of is is that I got frustrated with the team tactics and killed it for most of a lap. One dude came through when I swung off and boom, we had a group of eight, with the right teams represented. Some guys were sitting on so I tried to shake it up by attacking on the kicker each lap, but never got a smaller group to work. It looked like we were going to come to the line together, so i started preparing for the jumps/ last ditch attacks. An Alliance rider (Mike) dropped a bomb with a little over a km to go and no one reacted. at about 800 to go a Landrover guy jumped after him and got a good separation. I got boxed in bit and by the time i got out he had a good gap on me. at this point it was a bar fight and we just motored to the line. I picked up one rider on the way to the line and despite my best efforts he grabbed my wheel, at about 200 to go we caught Mike and the dude on my wheel attacked. I clawed my way back to him and past him to finish second. The Land Rover guy won. His attack was well timed and he earned that win fare and square.

It was a great feeling to be competing for a win again. It was a little weird, there was a point where I wasn't sure if I would know how to "finish", but offseason training and experience came through.

Today (Sunday) was the Carl Dolan Circuit Race. We had mostly a full squad and were ready to try to rip the race to shreds. The plan was to let the early race action keep things fast and then start dropping bombs. Things didn't go exactly as planed as Rick and Jeff got off in a group of 5 on the second lap. That quickly turned into a group of four as one dude got dropped. This was a break that we wanted to support so it was all hands on deck to shut things down. The next 5-6 laps consisted of a flurry of attacks with out team siting one or two guys on every move. The gap slowly creeped up to 30 seconds, and then there was finally a lull in the filed letting the gap grow to a little over a minute. The attacks continued, but they never really made a dent until about 5 laps to go. The break had dropped to three riders and the field was still full of motivated guys that wanted a field sprint. It was a little touch and go, but Rick drove it hard to make sure that they stayed away. In the end, Jeff came up about a half of a bike length short of the win and Rick held on for third. I tried to lead out Marc F. for the sprint, but hit the front a bit early and didn't have the gas to get him to 300m.

At the end of the day we raced really well and will get that elusive win shortly. Next weekend we have the Tour of Ephrata stage race. It has an 8 mile TTT with the last 4 miles being a significant climb. It is gonna be interesting.

Philly 2-Day recap...

This a a week late, but I was laid up with my annual "spring cold". Hopefully this year I'll recover from it a bit better. I've got my physicians in a row and we're being very proactive with respect to my asthma so that I'm not still hacking up a lung in the middle of June. Anyhoo, last weekend, Bloom, Nate and I headed up to Philly for a 2-day omnium, Circuit on Sat., Crit on Sun.

We had initially though this would be an easy race to nab some upgrade points for the young-uns, boy were we wrong. Empire showed up with a full squad and were ready to throw down. Bobby Lea and Choderoff from OUCH/MAXXIS were there too. To fill out the field there were squads of 8+ from GPOA, Pitt. Elite velo, and Indiana Med center. That last squad included my old housemate John Rowley, It was really fun to see him again and not surprisingly he can still ride quite well. To add to the drama, Sat was stupid windy, with gusts upward of 30MPH.

The race was pretty fast from he guy, with lots of attacks. There was a lot of "follow the pro" with tons of people scrambling for Bobbies wheel. I understand that he's likely to make the selection and following him is a smart move, but if you make that selection you are racing for second place. This was especially baffling as the bigger squads should have tried to get something away without him and make him/Choderoff work. In the end Empire got two guys away with Bobbie and it stuck. GOPA chased but were not organized enough to do any damage. The gap settled at about 1 min and that was it. I took a flyer after a prime and spent a few laps out there solo, but it the group behind pulled me in. At that point I tried to shepherd Bloom to the line for the sprint. I dropped him off at the front with about 500 to go and he was able to jump on the surge up the left side and grab 7th. I rolled in for 13th, Nate 21st.

Sundays crit was fantastic, it reminded me of Winfield (saturday) except the finish was at the top of the climb. It had some good technical turns and a nice steady big-ring uphill. The plan was to try to get Bloom a good finish and hopefully a top 5 in the overall. I was on the Hunt for some primes; my legs were really sluggish on sat and prime hunting is a good way to get the snap back. The race was a little more negative than saturday as Empire was trying to isolate Bobby, and noting too major ever developed. With a handful of laps to go, Nate got in a move of four that go t a gap of ~20sec. Empire and I went to work shutting it down. The break was not super organized and had a few guys sitting on, but it still looked like it would stick. Bloom got on my wheel with 2 to go and it was on. The leadout from empire stalled a bit on the last lap and I lost Bloom. When things got rolling again I was a little further back than I should have been, but whatever. The front of the sprint actually caught the break a the line, but Nate held on for 3rd place. I ended up 10th which was good enough to end up 9th overall. Overall we raced pretty well especially given the competition and our small numbers. Also a big shout out to our teammate Jacob who let us crash at his pad outside of philly. He raced on sunday too and Nabbed a prime and helped keep the race active.

Next week I'll be racing the Carl Dolan crit/circuit. Pray for better weather than last year (the photo at the top is from that race). We're out for blood and win so it's gonna be a barfight. I can't wait.

The Shaving...

The season has officially begun. Legs have been shorn and them pedals have been turned in anger for the first time this year. This is by far the latest start to any season that I can remember as I'm not allowed to race the collegiate stuff any longer.

The season opened with a bang and a crash at the Jefferson Cup race in lovely Charlottesville, VA (the location of the University of Virginia). The weather was perfect and the 1/2/3 field was filled up at 125 riders. Things got started off fairly quickly with some attacks going on the first climb. Strong headwinds/tailwinds and oddly enough little cross wind kept most of the field together. Our guys had some digs but it was pretty clear that nothing was getting away. That was till late in the race when a group of four slipped away. We held them within striking distance with the plan to reel them in so that Jeff and Jacob could mix it up in the sprint. With about 2 miles to go they "mixed it up" in a bad way and got into a huge stack with several other riders. It happened just in front of me to my left and I swear that Fuentes from Harley was flying through the air level with my head. The pace let up as teams tried to figure out who was left in the pack after the crash and we never got as organized as we should have. I didn't see the finish but apparently the sprint caught two of the four off the front and was ~50 yards behind the other two.

All in all it was a fast tough race and while we didn't come away with the result we wanted, I think we rode fairly well as a team.

In related news, Rick and Lusby went to town on the masters 35+ field with Rick taking the vee.

In the coming days I'll post some pix of my new rides. If you though my road bike last year had a big head tube, you need to see this years frame.

P.S. Thanks to Sophia for getting me off my lazy ass and updating this here blog.

Busted...

I'm not one to get too caught up in the mess that is doping in cycling, but the latest news about Kayle Leogrande has been a long time coming. Info can be found at velonews and cyclingnews and if you are interested you can read the USADA decision.  Just after winning the USA Elite crit Championship at Downer Grove, the rumors started (or continued) to fly that Kayle had been popped for doping.  In the end the test were inconclusive and he was not sanctioned.  A year later more problems cropped up.  I was at stuporweek in 2007 when he was asked to submit a doping control.  The word on the street was that he was taking something as he seemed to be a notch faster than he should be.   A few months later rumors were abound that he had admitted using EPO after being tested at superweek.  Now about a year later he's been suspended, and it seems that there was a lot of truth in those rumors.

I like the part where he says that he was targeted by USADA, frankly because he is right.  There was a bit of an uproar amongst some team directors when USADA was not at 'Toona because it had decided to go to Superweek. Now we know why.

I can understand why Rock Racing did not  suspend Kayle before USADA issued judgement, but they need to look  at the people that they now employ and the specter of doping that surounds virtually all of the team either directly or via association.  I'm all for second chances, but the parties involved have to understand that the moment you are associated with doping all of your results will be questioned wether you were clean or not. 

H-town...

This past saturday marked my return to racing.  It was the district championship crit in Hagerstown.  The course was fantastic, one technical turn, a short rise, and a headwind/false-flat drag to the line made me feel like I was back in the midwest for the summer long crit fest that is racing in the Chicago area.

The plan was to keep things together so that our sprinter Shane Kline could go for the win.  Things were aggressive early  and we had one or two guys sitting on every move.  My job was to chaperone Shane and help him move up if needed. Additionally I would lend an hand if tings got messy up front.  Here is a shot of me bringing Clay across to a break midway thru the race.  I look a bit chubby, and am suffering into the headwind.

Late in the race two Harleys and Ramon rolled off unmarked.  The gap was opening and I tried to drag Rick across.  I got within a few seconds, but could not get there.  Fortunately Rick is a hoss and was able to make the junction.  The bad news that along with Rick, I took two guys from the teams already up the road leaving Rick to do battle with three Harleys and two Artemis guys.  Yet again, we ended up stacking the odds against one of our best riders.  Rick managed to get 4th place which is nothing short of superhuman.  Shane did his job and took the field sprint for 7th.

Rick used to race pro for Navigators, and though that was a few years back he still shows that most pros are a notch above even the best amateurs.  A prime example of this occurred at the Cascade Cycling Classic this past weekend.

Yes, that is Chris Horner giving another rider a "lift" to the mountain top finish.  Click here to see more photos and a description of the above event.  I think my favorite picture is the shot with another group coming to the finish.  I'd be pissed to find out that someone literally carried another rider up the climb and handily beat me.

Ohio recap...

The last stage of the tour of Ohio was the exact opposite of last years final criterium stage which ended in a bunch sprint.  The 50 mile circuit race had us scheduled for 4 loops on rolling country roads and then 10 laps of a 1.3 mile finishing circuit with a big climb and a technical descent.

Things started off as expected, Inferno let a group roll off the front to protect the sprint jersey.  With one big loop to go the weather took a turn for the worse.  Wind, rain, hail, lightening, you name it.  At one point the cross winds were strong enough to blow Bennett off the road and he is probably 185 lbs, our flyweight Chong managed to keep it upright by drafting off of my billboard ass.

The run back into town was pretty uneventful.  We did our best to escort Chris to the front so that he could be on the pointy end of the race when we hit the finishing circuits.  I think that the guys executed perfectly, and we looked like we had a clear purpose in the race.  Th finishing circuits were a right bitch.  they started with a short paved incline that took a slight left-hand bend onto a super steep brick climb.  It was not quite snake alley, but close.  The climb was followed by a false flat/rolling descent and finished with a super steep bumpy concrete downhill with a 180 degree turn at the base. 

I cracked pretty hard the first time up the climb, but toughed it out to finish in the top 50.  I actually felt better as the race went on, but whatever.

Overall the guys rode pretty well, with Chris being the most consistent.  He ended up 16th overall and 3rd in the collegiate standings.

John Rowley managed to hold on to his Cat 3 jersey, and Le TSK was second in the collegiate and points competition.  It was really great to race with these guys again.

After the race, we had Pizza and some beer.  Tank, Lemur and I ventured out to THE bar in Granville for a few more drinks.  Upon arrival, Bennett and a few friends of his stumbled out.  Me being the jackass that I am threatened Bennett with bodily harm, and fisticuffs nearly ensued. I "boxed" his ears a few times and even threw a leg kick at his head thinking that we were just screwing around.  He then grabbed my head and came away with my hat.  Walking away from me he refuses to give my hat back and is swearing at me.  I now realize that he didn't recognize me and I'm flat out lucky that he didn't flat out punch my lights out.  After calling him by name a few times he realized it was me and the hat and hugs were exchanged.

The trip back to MD was uneventful (other than a detour to krispy kreme, and cute waitstaff at Panera).

Absolute piss...

That pretty much sums up the first two days of the Tour of Ohio.  I'm just not feeling great on the bike.  Stage one was a 30 mile crit on a 1/2 mile course with 7-8 turns and a section of brick.  Thankfully the officials decided to negate any time gaps and give all riders the same finish time less time bonuses.  That said, this caused some serious issues as guys were just sitting up wen a gap opened that they didn't feel like closing.  I spent the first half of the race picking my way through the chaff and made what would end up being the final selection of 30 or so riders.  I was working my way thru the remainder f the field when a Target Training guy got tangled up and wend down on the bricks.  I T-boned him pretty good, but didn't hit the ground.  I thought I could case back on but got to within 5 seconds but never any closer.  After getting pulled, I coughed until I vomited and my nose was bleeding.  It is time to go back to the doctor as I'm still not over what ever is up with my lungs.  The only good news is that Curtis (C-dubs) had a good ride and finished 13th.

Stage two is the Queen stage of the tour and a right bitch.  The first 25 miles are chill, but then it is one steep climb after another until you get to the line at mile 66.  I tried to be a good teammate and patrol the front of the race.  There were several times that a dangerous group was off and I rode hard to keep them close or pull them back.  I ended up cracking pretty bad with three major climbs to go.  I was able to chase back, but the writing was on the wall as probably the hardest two climbs were left.  I rode the last 10 miles or so solo or in a small group. 

Frankly, I'm really disappointed with my race. I didn't ride smart at all, and it may have cost me  chance at a good GC placing.  I'm guessing that I'm at least 10 mins down and there is no way for me to make that up. I really have no idea if my lungs are the problem, or if I'm just slow.  Regardless, I need to have a good race soon or I'm gonna be fried mentally.  I'm sick of feeling helpless on the bike.

The other bad news is that Chris Hong was the only guy from our team to make the selection today, and while he is a strong rider, It is going to be hard for him to make up any time as the rest of the stages are pretty flat. 

On the positive side, Tank had a pretty good ride.  He is a Cat 3 and a big guy (about my size) and he was a second placed rider on the stage.  

I'm (almost) back...

So it is semi official. I'm a bike racer again. This has nothing to do with riding well and getting results, rather the opposite. After a year of keeping the rubber side down, I came off the bike this weekend. The incident occurred at the Murad RR. It was a nice course, slightly rolling with no big climbs to lug my ass up. The weather on the other hand was not so nice. Once again, it poured buckets shortly after the start of our race. I was on early duty and the guys were out to give other teams hell until something good got away. After a few failed attempts I was off in a small group at the end of the first lap. I'm second wheel going into a slightly off camber down hill right hander, and boom front wheel pushed out and i'm on the deck sliding before I know what has happened. I didn't even get my hands off the bars, and thus ground my knuckles pretty good. I slid thru the corner, but my bike ended up in the middle of the road, and I couldn't get it until the entire field passed by. After getting things straight (saddle, bars, stem) I chased and chased. I caught the group at the start finish on the next lap when the officials stopped the race due to weather. after standing around for 30 mins they canceled the race. That is twice this year!!!

The following day was the CSC invite down in Arlington, VA (D.C. for all intents). Our race was fast and aggressive so much that the field went from over 100 to about 40 in short order. We tried like hell to get a break going but nothing ever materialized. One dude rode off solo and won. The rest of us tried to bring it back but got no help from the other teams, and or guys were pretty gassed for the sprint. Rick hung tough and nabbed 14th. I'm still missing that little bit of form that is the difference between driving a break and hanging on for dear life, but I'm getting closer.

Now I have a few weekends off, before Tour of Ohio. I'm hoping that training through these past few weeks of racing will pay off.

DRK+NRC=DNF

Bike Jam is over and it was a huge success. Our amateur racers had some good rides, and the pro team notched the Vee in front of the title sponsor, the Kelly family. I was in the pro race and it was fast from the gun. I was stuck mid pack for the majority of the race and unable/unwilling to move up as the field was strung out. In the last 1/4 of the race, the gaps started to open and I after closing a few, I cracked. End of race.

Sunday was a Crit down at RFK stadium in D.C. It was on a 2 mile long pan flat course through several parking lots around the stadium. Again it was fast, but the course was so wide open it was pretty easy to move up. It came down to a bunch sprint and I was 14th. Still a little off my form, but getting better. I actually felt like I was part of the race today, which was a boost for the morale.

One last note on how small the cycling world is. I ran into some old friends that I expected to see. Baumann and Bennett were both at Bike Jam, and it was nice to see some of my old racing friends. Then there were some surprises. Liz F. from Ohio state and her man Ben just got back form spending 2 years in South America and are moving to DC. They found some time to squeeze in some bike racing while out east looking for a place to live. It never ceases to amaze me at how close knit of a community the cycling world is.

Pwn3d...

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.

And so it begins...

The MWCCC road season got off to an interesting start this weekend. C-bach, TSK, Claus, Skeeter, Skeefer, the breeze, waffles, FITB Mike, boo, tube sock, sonar, Brett the photo guy, the juicy girl, and yours truly packed up and headed to Ohio for a Crit and RR hosted by The Ohio State University. I've placed emphasis on the "the" ( an awesome 80's band BTW) as anyone that attends the Ohio State University will have no problem reminding you to add that oh so important article to the beginning. Right now most of my readership is wondering who all of the nicknames above belong to. Quite honestly I made almost all of the newbies nicknames up. Some of them have relevance to events that transpired during the course of the weekend, and others I just flat out bullshitted. If you've made it this far, please leave comments trying to match them up with those who attended. Bonus points if you can figure out what FITB means, there are some super secret double bonus points related to that as well, but you'll have to figure that out on your own. Also feel free to suggest some nicknames.

If you have a metallic taste in your mouth right now, feel free to remove the gun barrel as I'll make the race summary mostly pain free and I do not wish to be responsible for the death of all three people that read my drivel.

Skeefer and Waffles (that is a freebie) represented in the C's placing 9th and 6th, respectively. This is very impressive seeing that it was Skeefer's first race.

In the A race, one dude went really fast, TSK went faster than all but the guy who went really fast, Claus and I went pretty fast while skeeter and C-bach went just as fast as claus and I but were "le tired" and the officials told them to take a nap, then fire the missiles.

The RR was canceled due to the poo storm of ice that fell overnite.