Well I had 3 choices.
Do the Rochester Twilight Crit and not finish.
Do the Tour of Grandview and maybe not finish, or head to the Raccoon Rally and hope to do well. I took the easy road.
25 mile laps. 2 climbs of 3 -4 miles per climb each lap. Lots of climbing at around 4% or 5%.
There were some strong guys there from Ohio, NY and Canada.
After 1 lap our group was down to 12 people. Brian Batke from Team Torelli kept attacking on the 3rd climb, so Glenn just went to the front and did a 10 minute time trial up the hill. He kept the pace really high and drafting made it easier for people to hang on. The hills lacked the steep pitches that would hurt people enough to really pop them.
At the top of the climb, chris Ciaccio attacked pretty hard and I jumped on to go with him. We got a good gap and tried holding it on the descent. I suck at going fast so I think I was just slowing him down. He is a monster time trialist and was keeping the pace really high.
We got caught at the worst spot, right at the bottom of the last climb. Not sweet, cause it left little time to recover before going up. The attacks started pretty quickly and thankfully I had Glenn to go with them while I tried to recover some.
I managed to hang onto the lead group up the hill, and there were 6 of us when Glenn got a gap on the false flat at the top. He kept the pace high, allowing me to suck wheels for the next 8 miles while he managed to fend off the 4 others chasing him.
Of course he got caught with about 100 meters to go. I really thought he would stick it, but a few attacks within the chase group closed the gap a bit too much. I managed to come around the chasers for the win, and Glenn got 6th.
It was a good race and hopefully was good training for Nationals for Glenn, he looked crazy strong.
Monday, June 26, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
Summer Solstice Stage Race
I guess this is a stage race report.
Dougie and Glenn Drove me and Stubna to Ohio for the summer solstice stage race.
Friday night was the Crit. 50 minutes. It started late and involved weird turns into parking lots. It was dark when we finished and there were no street lights. I was so stoked when a break got away so it slowed down enough for me to know I was going to finish. I got the same time as the field.. Sweet.
Stubna and I drove with johnturn back to his parents house, hitting up the waffle house on the way down. Double stack with 2 scrambled eggs. Sweet.
Saturday AM came really quickly. The race was a 76 mile road race, all flat. During neutral roll out I talked to some dude who has an Asian Tree Leopard as a pet. If you want one, he said the humane society had 2. He said it can jump 8 feet high, so I asked if the cage had a roof. He said it just walks around his house all day.
Oh yeah the bike race. Early break away. Texas roadhouse chased it, we got caught by the 3's, there were a million crashes all right in front of me it seemed. I pull my brake cable out of the caliper and skidded my tire bald avoiding it. I got the same time. Stubna pulled off 7th in a flat field sprint, Johnturn got 4th I think. Dougie flatted in the Cat3 race. I had just glued his tubular on for him that week, and my stomach sank when I saw him in a turn with a flat, thinking he had possibly rolled the tire. And of course he kept saying that is what happened to make me nervous.
We went back to Glenn's room and watch the world cup and played with our TT stuff getting ready for the time trial. 4.5 milesish flat with lots of wind. It was delayed without any definite start times. "6:25 ish" was my start time. I was stoked to have Stubna as my minute man. He was doing it merckx style and set a brutal pace for me, despite my TT bike and borrowed Troxel helmet. Paul Martin had some profile clip on bars and posted some insane time, but was beat by Andy Apllegate.
Super sweet Mexican food for dinner.
Stage 4 was a road race, which was shortened due to a triathalon on the same roads at the same time. It was cut to 56 miles. Big hill and brutal winds. I remember the break going and I was right there, but just couldn't do it. I didn't have enough to jump up to it. We were going like 32 on a narrow road in the gutter with cross winds. Johnturn made it. 5 guys including Paul Martin. Abercrombie chased for a whole lap and I attacked on the hill and got a good 6 man group. I think they were told on the radio to stop working with our chase group and come back to the main field and chase, so what was left of the field reintegrated. Next time up the hill I end up in a group of 7 or so again and we just kept it together for the last lap and last time up the hill. It is so cliche to sit on a breakway and win the bunch, but this guy had no problems doing it. I did as little work as a could, figuring I could win the bunch finish (cause it finished on top of the hill). The guy who sat on took me though, and I ended up 7th and 8th on GC.
The way home included:
-A car blowing a tire out right in front of us
-A jeep breaking what we believed to be the tie rod, causing his wheels to wobble like crazy and forcing him to gradually just slow down
-A desk blow out the back of a truck into the middle of the highway. Im glad we didnt stick around to see the eventual outcome of that, maybe it made the news.
-The worlds fastest busboy. Words cannot describe it and I regret not pushing mike to get his camera to video it. People would have thought footage was doctored. His hands moved so fast you could hardly see him. Glenn timed him and his fastest time clearing a table, moving all the salt and peppers and little dessert menus then wiping it down was 29 seconds.
I got home at an OK time and went to the park where they show free outdoor movies and laid in the grass watching the new Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I was less than impressed.
Dougie and Glenn Drove me and Stubna to Ohio for the summer solstice stage race.
Friday night was the Crit. 50 minutes. It started late and involved weird turns into parking lots. It was dark when we finished and there were no street lights. I was so stoked when a break got away so it slowed down enough for me to know I was going to finish. I got the same time as the field.. Sweet.
Stubna and I drove with johnturn back to his parents house, hitting up the waffle house on the way down. Double stack with 2 scrambled eggs. Sweet.
Saturday AM came really quickly. The race was a 76 mile road race, all flat. During neutral roll out I talked to some dude who has an Asian Tree Leopard as a pet. If you want one, he said the humane society had 2. He said it can jump 8 feet high, so I asked if the cage had a roof. He said it just walks around his house all day.
Oh yeah the bike race. Early break away. Texas roadhouse chased it, we got caught by the 3's, there were a million crashes all right in front of me it seemed. I pull my brake cable out of the caliper and skidded my tire bald avoiding it. I got the same time. Stubna pulled off 7th in a flat field sprint, Johnturn got 4th I think. Dougie flatted in the Cat3 race. I had just glued his tubular on for him that week, and my stomach sank when I saw him in a turn with a flat, thinking he had possibly rolled the tire. And of course he kept saying that is what happened to make me nervous.
We went back to Glenn's room and watch the world cup and played with our TT stuff getting ready for the time trial. 4.5 milesish flat with lots of wind. It was delayed without any definite start times. "6:25 ish" was my start time. I was stoked to have Stubna as my minute man. He was doing it merckx style and set a brutal pace for me, despite my TT bike and borrowed Troxel helmet. Paul Martin had some profile clip on bars and posted some insane time, but was beat by Andy Apllegate.
Super sweet Mexican food for dinner.
Stage 4 was a road race, which was shortened due to a triathalon on the same roads at the same time. It was cut to 56 miles. Big hill and brutal winds. I remember the break going and I was right there, but just couldn't do it. I didn't have enough to jump up to it. We were going like 32 on a narrow road in the gutter with cross winds. Johnturn made it. 5 guys including Paul Martin. Abercrombie chased for a whole lap and I attacked on the hill and got a good 6 man group. I think they were told on the radio to stop working with our chase group and come back to the main field and chase, so what was left of the field reintegrated. Next time up the hill I end up in a group of 7 or so again and we just kept it together for the last lap and last time up the hill. It is so cliche to sit on a breakway and win the bunch, but this guy had no problems doing it. I did as little work as a could, figuring I could win the bunch finish (cause it finished on top of the hill). The guy who sat on took me though, and I ended up 7th and 8th on GC.
The way home included:
-A car blowing a tire out right in front of us
-A jeep breaking what we believed to be the tie rod, causing his wheels to wobble like crazy and forcing him to gradually just slow down
-A desk blow out the back of a truck into the middle of the highway. Im glad we didnt stick around to see the eventual outcome of that, maybe it made the news.
-The worlds fastest busboy. Words cannot describe it and I regret not pushing mike to get his camera to video it. People would have thought footage was doctored. His hands moved so fast you could hardly see him. Glenn timed him and his fastest time clearing a table, moving all the salt and peppers and little dessert menus then wiping it down was 29 seconds.
I got home at an OK time and went to the park where they show free outdoor movies and laid in the grass watching the new Charlie and the Chocolate factory. I was less than impressed.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
My new coach
So Danny Chew calls me yesterday morning and said that I was the first thing he thought about when he got up. He told me of his regrets after finishing 12th at USPRO and how he didnt go to worlds, despite the invitation. He said that I need to step up my mileage to about 700 miles a week with about 1/2 of that at intensity. He was totally serious. No seriously, he was serious. It was endearing that he would think of me and whatnot and be concerned about my training, but this is totally insane. Man does he rule.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
I just want to prove that I know how to ride a bike.
Yeah so Saturday and Sunday our team did well. About as well as you could hope for. I am still getting used to so many tactics and whatnot. I wish races were all attrition on brutal climbs. Even if I wasnt in the lead group, I would know that I gave my all instead of wondering why I wasnt in the lead group. Whatever. - that was my story saturday.
Sunday, well, the guys did well against a SUPER stacked field. Im going to say this was about as hard as a field could get in Pittsburgh without Murrysville around anymore. I crashed out after hitting a cone. Yeah a cone that had been there the previous 12 laps. The weird thing is, it was supposed to be the right hand border, and I think Billet was on my right when I hit it. I felt like such a retard.
Proof that I can ride a bike! Steevo circa 1998
Sunday, well, the guys did well against a SUPER stacked field. Im going to say this was about as hard as a field could get in Pittsburgh without Murrysville around anymore. I crashed out after hitting a cone. Yeah a cone that had been there the previous 12 laps. The weird thing is, it was supposed to be the right hand border, and I think Billet was on my right when I hit it. I felt like such a retard.
Proof that I can ride a bike! Steevo circa 1998
Monday, May 22, 2006
Do you want a pull?
Old story, few weeks old anyway, but I forgot about it. Mike and I were meeting Jared and Ben up the hill for food one night. Jared and Ben in a car, Me and Mike
climbing up wilkins ave. Jared goes by slowly enough that I can grab on and skitch
a ride up the hill. Mike was too far back and missed out.
Wel or did he? It turns out this 70ish year old woman wound down her window and said "do you want a pull?" and let Stubna skitch off of her until she floored it and he let go. Think of how many people are going to be super confused when they are riding up a hill and this old lady asks if they want a pull! She said she had never done that before. haha.
climbing up wilkins ave. Jared goes by slowly enough that I can grab on and skitch
a ride up the hill. Mike was too far back and missed out.
Wel or did he? It turns out this 70ish year old woman wound down her window and said "do you want a pull?" and let Stubna skitch off of her until she floored it and he let go. Think of how many people are going to be super confused when they are riding up a hill and this old lady asks if they want a pull! She said she had never done that before. haha.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Pack fodder
Well I was going to write something about Turkey Hill and how awesome it was having
the team do so well. Then I thought about when I was a strong cat 3 and would read other's blogs. I would be like "who wants to read about a dude sitting in the field and missing all the moves." So I figured I would spare the world a write up of me getting 41st or something.
Bear Mountain: Same story. I do owe the world a public apology for having the noiseiest bottom bracket on earth for 4.5 hours. I bet everybody was pissed that I didn't get shelled during that race cause it was one of the few things that would drown out Danny Chew's voice on a 100 mile ride. I did finish a 98 mile road race, which is really really far.
On lap 5, Scotty Z went 28mph up the climb. For real.
Last lap I was hurting to pass a guy on a hybrid who was just cruising around the park, look out, Im a monster. Sorry about the bottom bracket
the team do so well. Then I thought about when I was a strong cat 3 and would read other's blogs. I would be like "who wants to read about a dude sitting in the field and missing all the moves." So I figured I would spare the world a write up of me getting 41st or something.
Bear Mountain: Same story. I do owe the world a public apology for having the noiseiest bottom bracket on earth for 4.5 hours. I bet everybody was pissed that I didn't get shelled during that race cause it was one of the few things that would drown out Danny Chew's voice on a 100 mile ride. I did finish a 98 mile road race, which is really really far.
On lap 5, Scotty Z went 28mph up the climb. For real.
Last lap I was hurting to pass a guy on a hybrid who was just cruising around the park, look out, Im a monster. Sorry about the bottom bracket
Monday, May 01, 2006
Ephrata.
Logistic nightmare:
Jared's car holds 3 bikes. His TT bike, road bike and Stubna's road bike. Dougie's car takes 3 but only has 2 trays. This leaves me borrowing Kralldiggle's tray, taking my bike and said tray to Dougie's house and hoping I can find him Saturday before the race to get it and warm up and race it, then I also have to get to Jared's girlfriend's house (about a 15 minute bike ride from mine), at 545 Saturday am to catch the ride, but don't have my bike to ride over there.
Well it all worked out and I got a sweet warmup on my Huffy 3 speed. I warned Stubna that I would put it into 3. Oh did I ever.
4 dudes, 3 bikes, 4 sets of spare wheels, and enough gear to really get bad gas mileage I am sure.
The race Saturday:
65 and Sunny, not too windy and very nice roads. It was so sunny out that when the beautiful course took us through the covered bridge I thought we should have to remove our sunglasses! The race started out pretty fast, and there was the longest move of the day with Geronimo, Ramon B and a few others. I really thought that it might stick, but it came back. I was just in the pack, going here and there, but nothing serious or long at all. I did catch a wheel up to Stubna's break and I had to scream at him cause the kid who gave me ride up there was just going to blow past them. I was like "MIKE!!!" cause I didn't want him to miss us. But of course that got caught too. Leech managed to get into a break and got 2nd int he downhill sprint. He was stoked and it was awesome. Jared got 8thish I think. I didn't realize until too late that I wasn't close enough to the front to help with any leadout attempts, and when I did, it was too late. Next time. That last lap was mad fast.
Hotel, Swimming Pool, Hot Tub, Cable, Decaf coffee in the room. Man was that nice. Then we hit up the olive garden for dinner cause we were in strip mall hell and there was nothing else. Of course we were starving so the hostess girl had to skip my name and make us wait like 20 minutes longer. Not sweet. Jared used to sales skills to get us free dessert! oh yes! oh yeah! blackberry/blueberry tart. boom!
Sunday brought panacke buffet for breakfast. I hate buffets cause I usually eat until I am sick. I really tried to refrain and only overate a bit. I am proud of myself, but kind of mad in retrospect knowing I could have eaten twice as much, which would have made the meal cost 1/2 as much, or twice as much for the same price.... whatever.
Pain Mountain TT.
Nice roads to warmup on. I just had aero bars on a road bike. Jared was right, I think a TT bike would have been faster for sure. I had about a 25 minute warmup, which probably wasn't enough. The course was pretty gnarly. My 30 second guy was fast so I just paced off of him most of the time it was too twisty to see him though. My 1 minute down guy was a Rite Aid Pro rider on a full TT bike, so I was waiting for him to come around me after 1:20 or so. Pain mountain was a freaking staircase up a ridge. It didn't fool around with switchbacks or mellow grades, it just went up and over. There was a 1K to go sign like 4 miles from the finish that was just cruel and unusual punishment. My 1 minute guy caught me towards the end, but I was proud that I held him off for so long. Not a bad ride I don't think. I could have done better of course, and with experience my next time will be better.
Crit.
Brutally fast. First lap I was coming out of the last turn and I heard the announcer saying who was already crossing the line. Man I was far back. I was pretty stoked when Jared got in the move and Geronimo got up to it too. The rest of the day was basically just covering attacks and not pulling through when a chase attempt was finally made. They pulled the field after having us sprint early cause we were about to get lapped. It was sweet to watch the finish with geronimo coming up for 1 and hearing the announcer say "Meredith - GPOA does the 1, 2" . sweet. Then we waited for the results. and waited. and waited and waited and ate chinese food and waited until 730 when we got on the road for our 4 hour trip home.
I thought I was tired in the car, but when I got on my huffy 3 speed for ride back from rob's house was when the legs really told me to stop riding for the day. Hacker is just lucky I didn't have that bad boy for the Pain Mountain TT or I would have put some time into him.
Jared's car holds 3 bikes. His TT bike, road bike and Stubna's road bike. Dougie's car takes 3 but only has 2 trays. This leaves me borrowing Kralldiggle's tray, taking my bike and said tray to Dougie's house and hoping I can find him Saturday before the race to get it and warm up and race it, then I also have to get to Jared's girlfriend's house (about a 15 minute bike ride from mine), at 545 Saturday am to catch the ride, but don't have my bike to ride over there.
Well it all worked out and I got a sweet warmup on my Huffy 3 speed. I warned Stubna that I would put it into 3. Oh did I ever.
4 dudes, 3 bikes, 4 sets of spare wheels, and enough gear to really get bad gas mileage I am sure.
The race Saturday:
65 and Sunny, not too windy and very nice roads. It was so sunny out that when the beautiful course took us through the covered bridge I thought we should have to remove our sunglasses! The race started out pretty fast, and there was the longest move of the day with Geronimo, Ramon B and a few others. I really thought that it might stick, but it came back. I was just in the pack, going here and there, but nothing serious or long at all. I did catch a wheel up to Stubna's break and I had to scream at him cause the kid who gave me ride up there was just going to blow past them. I was like "MIKE!!!" cause I didn't want him to miss us. But of course that got caught too. Leech managed to get into a break and got 2nd int he downhill sprint. He was stoked and it was awesome. Jared got 8thish I think. I didn't realize until too late that I wasn't close enough to the front to help with any leadout attempts, and when I did, it was too late. Next time. That last lap was mad fast.
Hotel, Swimming Pool, Hot Tub, Cable, Decaf coffee in the room. Man was that nice. Then we hit up the olive garden for dinner cause we were in strip mall hell and there was nothing else. Of course we were starving so the hostess girl had to skip my name and make us wait like 20 minutes longer. Not sweet. Jared used to sales skills to get us free dessert! oh yes! oh yeah! blackberry/blueberry tart. boom!
Sunday brought panacke buffet for breakfast. I hate buffets cause I usually eat until I am sick. I really tried to refrain and only overate a bit. I am proud of myself, but kind of mad in retrospect knowing I could have eaten twice as much, which would have made the meal cost 1/2 as much, or twice as much for the same price.... whatever.
Pain Mountain TT.
Nice roads to warmup on. I just had aero bars on a road bike. Jared was right, I think a TT bike would have been faster for sure. I had about a 25 minute warmup, which probably wasn't enough. The course was pretty gnarly. My 30 second guy was fast so I just paced off of him most of the time it was too twisty to see him though. My 1 minute down guy was a Rite Aid Pro rider on a full TT bike, so I was waiting for him to come around me after 1:20 or so. Pain mountain was a freaking staircase up a ridge. It didn't fool around with switchbacks or mellow grades, it just went up and over. There was a 1K to go sign like 4 miles from the finish that was just cruel and unusual punishment. My 1 minute guy caught me towards the end, but I was proud that I held him off for so long. Not a bad ride I don't think. I could have done better of course, and with experience my next time will be better.
Crit.
Brutally fast. First lap I was coming out of the last turn and I heard the announcer saying who was already crossing the line. Man I was far back. I was pretty stoked when Jared got in the move and Geronimo got up to it too. The rest of the day was basically just covering attacks and not pulling through when a chase attempt was finally made. They pulled the field after having us sprint early cause we were about to get lapped. It was sweet to watch the finish with geronimo coming up for 1 and hearing the announcer say "Meredith - GPOA does the 1, 2" . sweet. Then we waited for the results. and waited. and waited and waited and ate chinese food and waited until 730 when we got on the road for our 4 hour trip home.
I thought I was tired in the car, but when I got on my huffy 3 speed for ride back from rob's house was when the legs really told me to stop riding for the day. Hacker is just lucky I didn't have that bad boy for the Pain Mountain TT or I would have put some time into him.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Probably one of the craziest things that could happen happened.
I woke up today unable to rotate my arm and with a pounding pounding headache. I feel like I got beat up. When I leaned my head back to take some Advil (maybe the 3rd time in the last 10 years), I then realized how much my neck hurt too. Man.
Rewind to 940ish yesterday morning. Im a few hours into my workday.
I ride into the brewery like I usually would, past the first parking garage, up to the second one in order to get to the second floor of the building. I lean my bike up against the wall that I usually do when I felt uneasy. Before I knew what had happened, I was on the ground moaning. Apparently somebody working on area above me (maybe 15 - 20 feet) threw a brick off the edge and of course it hit me straight on the head. I had a helmet on because I pedal around on a bike for work, so it only crushed my helmet and scraped my shoulder and arm, bruising them both. If I hadn't had a helmet on I would be straight up dead. So I am laying there on the cement trying to understand what happened, just kind of moaning for about 5 minutes when I heard the guys around me talking about how they had just looked and nobody was there. Apparently I pulled up when they decided to throw the brick, and by brick I mean large cement block, not a little brick, over the ledge. I laid there on the ground, trying unsuccessfully to hold back tears while people ran around assessing how bad it all was.
I later made the comparison of it being like you stepping out of bed in the morning and the ground just isn't there. Imagine altering your reality like that. You don't expect stuff to just literally drop out of the sky onto your head, it just shouldn't happen.
1 phone call later I am experiencing a bunch of firsts. First time in an ambulance. First backboard. First time crying in front of a group of people, not sure why, it just seemed like the right thing to do. First cat scan, first mri first, taxi ride home from the hospital.
My brother and Harmony somehow found out I was there, despite me not wanting to call anybody. It was nice of them. I didn't want anybody to call them cause they would have assumed I got hit by a car or something super gnarly happened, and I wasn't worst case scenario.
So to sum up.
-don't throw bricks over ledges when people are probably going to be under them.
-don't go to AGH cause that hospital totally sucks, they didn't give me water or something for my headache and I was there for about 4 hours, and they don't have a pharmacy there where I could buy something or fill my prescription for whatever it was they gave me to take.
Sometimes I get stressed out by all the little stuff, but I guess I am pretty lucky it hit my head and not my shoulder. I guess I am lucky that I didn't look up and have it crush my skull or crack all my teeth that I have been dumping money into. I guess I am lucky that it wasn't one of the people working in the building who go out there to smoke and having them die and having me wonder constantly what would have happened had it been me?
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Totally blown apart: aka Mount Joy RR.
Cut out of work at high noon on Friday. Sweet. Mike nearly lost his hand at work this week, and couldn't ride or race. Not sweet. Me and Jared headed out Friday to his friend Bart's house in Lancaster. Jared ate more cookies on the way to the race than I have eaten in the last 2 years. For real. The line at the Breezewood subway was less than 4 people for the first time ever, and Jared was stoked.
We got to Bart's house and chilled for an hour or so before crashing hard.
Bart lives 2 exits away from Mount Joy, which was a lot easier than leaving Pittsburgh at 530 am. Totally awesome of him to let us crash.
The race: 70 degrees and sunny. Should make for the perfect race right?
There were 3 teams with 5 or 6 guys. All major players. The day looked up when I saw Hebe riding toward me! Totally surprised, it was a relief to have another teammate there. We started into a headwind, turned into a crosswind, climbed into a crosswind and finished into a headwind. Get it? The first lap had an attack that I tried to cover and got into the middle and just couldn't bridge it. Then Ramon blew up the lead group anyway and we all came back. Bad move pushing it so hard with so little of a warmup. Mental note.
From there all the teams took turns launching their guys and trying to make stuff stick. I was hanging out towards the back just trying to stay on and maybe recover some. There was a crazy gnarly crash that somehow I managed to miss most of. I had to chase on with a few dudes to catch the main field again. Hebe missed the crash only to flat out a lap later. I would have given him my wheel due to the world of pain that I was in, but it was 10 speed and the downhill and wind were so fast, it would have just given him a ride to the car.
With a few laps to go, Jared attacked to bridge up to a guy and managed to hold it for the rest of the race. This was such a relief to me, cause it gave me every right to just suck wheels and sit in. Jared is seriously ever impressive. I hung in until the climb on the last lap and managed to get into a small group of three which got caught on the fast descent. I got dropped on the descent a few times, I don't know what is wrong with me, but my terminal velocity is seriously like 40mph then I am spun out and hurting. I need to work on that.
Jared ends up with 8th (they paid up to 7th). I think I managed 15th. 60 or so starters 16 finishers. I wish I had a bit more to give, but I guess I am happy just to avoid the crashes and finish. Wish Hebe wouldn't have flatted.
On the way home Jared and I were talking and I said that I think that if I punched
Hacker in the face as hard as I could, it wouldn't phase him. Jared called him and asked and he said "probably not, definitely not during a race." Gnarly tough, reminds me of my Dad who I once saw put a butter knife through his hand.
I think that this was a good workout and a lesson in the pain to come this year. Hopefully I can fix a few things with myself to be a bit more competitive and help out a bit more. Maybe Ill even learn how to bridge a gap!
After the long drive home I went to an easter egg hung organized for my Somali Bantu refugee neighbors/friends. It was really cute. Haji and Muya were really upset that I keep not winning these bike races that I go to. Someday. haha
We got to Bart's house and chilled for an hour or so before crashing hard.
Bart lives 2 exits away from Mount Joy, which was a lot easier than leaving Pittsburgh at 530 am. Totally awesome of him to let us crash.
The race: 70 degrees and sunny. Should make for the perfect race right?
There were 3 teams with 5 or 6 guys. All major players. The day looked up when I saw Hebe riding toward me! Totally surprised, it was a relief to have another teammate there. We started into a headwind, turned into a crosswind, climbed into a crosswind and finished into a headwind. Get it? The first lap had an attack that I tried to cover and got into the middle and just couldn't bridge it. Then Ramon blew up the lead group anyway and we all came back. Bad move pushing it so hard with so little of a warmup. Mental note.
From there all the teams took turns launching their guys and trying to make stuff stick. I was hanging out towards the back just trying to stay on and maybe recover some. There was a crazy gnarly crash that somehow I managed to miss most of. I had to chase on with a few dudes to catch the main field again. Hebe missed the crash only to flat out a lap later. I would have given him my wheel due to the world of pain that I was in, but it was 10 speed and the downhill and wind were so fast, it would have just given him a ride to the car.
With a few laps to go, Jared attacked to bridge up to a guy and managed to hold it for the rest of the race. This was such a relief to me, cause it gave me every right to just suck wheels and sit in. Jared is seriously ever impressive. I hung in until the climb on the last lap and managed to get into a small group of three which got caught on the fast descent. I got dropped on the descent a few times, I don't know what is wrong with me, but my terminal velocity is seriously like 40mph then I am spun out and hurting. I need to work on that.
Jared ends up with 8th (they paid up to 7th). I think I managed 15th. 60 or so starters 16 finishers. I wish I had a bit more to give, but I guess I am happy just to avoid the crashes and finish. Wish Hebe wouldn't have flatted.
On the way home Jared and I were talking and I said that I think that if I punched
Hacker in the face as hard as I could, it wouldn't phase him. Jared called him and asked and he said "probably not, definitely not during a race." Gnarly tough, reminds me of my Dad who I once saw put a butter knife through his hand.
I think that this was a good workout and a lesson in the pain to come this year. Hopefully I can fix a few things with myself to be a bit more competitive and help out a bit more. Maybe Ill even learn how to bridge a gap!
After the long drive home I went to an easter egg hung organized for my Somali Bantu refugee neighbors/friends. It was really cute. Haji and Muya were really upset that I keep not winning these bike races that I go to. Someday. haha
Monday, April 10, 2006
Philly 2 day day 2: aka "grey skies are going to clear up"
I was up at 615am for some reason. Maybe cause I knew there was only 8 pancakes in the fridge, or maybe cause there was sweet coffee to drink, or actually cause I had to clean my whole bike after the grime fest of yesterday's race.
We ate and rolled out in kind of a rush. I didn't realize we were leaving so soon and got totally frazzled about my missing glove. It had velcro on it and I know somebody is going to find it in their chamois or something. Whatever.
Bike path ride to the race in time to watch the women finish. It was still kind of chilly when they were racing. Jared showed up and proceeded to have a bunch of stuff go really wrong. Like: flatting on his tubular, actually it just totally blowing out. Then Fred was like "yeah dude borrow my new carbon wheel" but the freehub was kind of gnarled and we couldn't get a cassette onto it. Jared had to race with his training back wheel.
We had mad dudes in the race, ill try alphabetical by last name: babik, billet, graff, hacker,hebe, kincaid, martin, stubna, ... I really think that is it, sorry if I forgot. Good thing Dave Mitchell rode down to watch or else Fatty wouldn't have had shoes to wear (my worst nightmare come true!)...
The race started fast, and was pretty fast in the middle and then ended really fast. I felt pretty good. Its weird racing out there where I don't know who a single person is. I'm sure in a few more races Ill get to know some of the key players or whatever, but I only know a few dudes and they are on my team.. haha. There were a few promising moves. I felt good, but for some reason I was really hesitant to go with anything or try to bury myself bridging up to anything. Maybe next time. I nailed it a few times on the hill to close gaps or chase dudes down, and man do those freaking wheels go fast. Like really fast. I have like 3 memories from the race:
- being happy my hands worked well enough to drink a bottle
- realizing the one dude we were supposed to watch was off the front and burying myself to get up to the front to chase him down, but I guess everybody wanted to be on his wheel, so they chased him down first.
- geronimo saying "stay up here" when I was going backwards after said effort. Then Im like "oh my god there are only 5 laps left!!!"
- having a good spot with 1 to go until some huge dude leaned on me and scared me away
Oh well. Good times were had, I thought maybe I would sneak into the top 20 overall. I doubt it though, well see.
Jared won overall, Hacker snuck into the break and ended up with 3rd overall, Geronimo not trying on Saturday and getting 5 overall, and stubna with the 10th! Pretty freaking sweet.
We ate and rolled out in kind of a rush. I didn't realize we were leaving so soon and got totally frazzled about my missing glove. It had velcro on it and I know somebody is going to find it in their chamois or something. Whatever.
Bike path ride to the race in time to watch the women finish. It was still kind of chilly when they were racing. Jared showed up and proceeded to have a bunch of stuff go really wrong. Like: flatting on his tubular, actually it just totally blowing out. Then Fred was like "yeah dude borrow my new carbon wheel" but the freehub was kind of gnarled and we couldn't get a cassette onto it. Jared had to race with his training back wheel.
We had mad dudes in the race, ill try alphabetical by last name: babik, billet, graff, hacker,hebe, kincaid, martin, stubna, ... I really think that is it, sorry if I forgot. Good thing Dave Mitchell rode down to watch or else Fatty wouldn't have had shoes to wear (my worst nightmare come true!)...
The race started fast, and was pretty fast in the middle and then ended really fast. I felt pretty good. Its weird racing out there where I don't know who a single person is. I'm sure in a few more races Ill get to know some of the key players or whatever, but I only know a few dudes and they are on my team.. haha. There were a few promising moves. I felt good, but for some reason I was really hesitant to go with anything or try to bury myself bridging up to anything. Maybe next time. I nailed it a few times on the hill to close gaps or chase dudes down, and man do those freaking wheels go fast. Like really fast. I have like 3 memories from the race:
- being happy my hands worked well enough to drink a bottle
- realizing the one dude we were supposed to watch was off the front and burying myself to get up to the front to chase him down, but I guess everybody wanted to be on his wheel, so they chased him down first.
- geronimo saying "stay up here" when I was going backwards after said effort. Then Im like "oh my god there are only 5 laps left!!!"
- having a good spot with 1 to go until some huge dude leaned on me and scared me away
Oh well. Good times were had, I thought maybe I would sneak into the top 20 overall. I doubt it though, well see.
Jared won overall, Hacker snuck into the break and ended up with 3rd overall, Geronimo not trying on Saturday and getting 5 overall, and stubna with the 10th! Pretty freaking sweet.
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