When's that Tour de France thing?
For those of you old enough to remember, some forgotten multi-sport athlete Bo somebody-or-other made that utterance in a commercial. Well it is right around the dang-ol-corner. A friend recently asked me who he should watch for and this is what I had to say:
Well there is this guy: the Jan
www.myspace.com/kaiserjan
He won it in 1997 before Lance's reign. He just won the Tour of Switzerland so he is on form. Also there is Ivan Basso, who won the Tour of Italy this year and was 2nd in the Tour last year.
Jan Ulrich is a fantastic time-trailist but is vulnerable to attack in the high mountains. Basso is the reverse. He is a solid time trailist, but no where near the match of Ulrich. Armstrong beat Ulrich because he could match or beat him in TTs, and also beat him in the mountains.
These guys are the two favorites.
Then there are some second tier guys who don't have as proven a resume but who you can't count out. The most prominient of those IMHO is Floyd Landis of the USA. He has done this year the following week long stage races: Tour of California, Tour of Georgia, Paris-Nice, and the Dauphine Libre (in France). He won all but the Dauphine, and many times guys like him will save their best there, because it comes close to the tour. He also won a weekend stage race, the Criterium International. He was about 8th last year at the TdF, but he didn't know for sure he was going to be doing it until almost March, so that certainly affected his preparation. Although he isn't a proven threat in a three week race, he is could perhaps be regarded as an equal to Ulrich in time trials, or at least a step above Basso. He is less consistent as a climber. Certainly he is not an attacker in the mountains, he would be more of a follower there. If he can limit his loses in the mountains and perhaps have one or two superb stages there, and just be himself in the TTs he could very easily land on the podium, just where depends on the other guys.
Outside of them I place Levi Lepheimer of the US, Francisco Mancebo of Spain, and Alexander Vinokurov of Kazakstan as the likely 4th to 6th place guys. You could also throw Cadel Evans of Australia into that lot.
The biggest wildcard of that bunch is "Vino"kurov. He is an attacker and sometimes he really makes the most of stealing 45 seconds here, a minute there and he really makes the race fun to watch. But his team was swept up in a doping scandal and he hasn't raced much this year, so it is hard to say how well he will ride.
Another wildcard is George Hincapie. Present and accounted for in all of Lance's wins, George has improved his time-trailing and climbing every year. Since he has never ridden for himself, nobody knows how well he could do on his own. He is almost as strong as Floyd in the time trials, and he can climb very well for a tall lanky guy. You really have to love him and pull for him, he's so gregarious, but as I say, he's a wildcard.
I will also add that there is no Team Time Trail this year, which hurts Basso the most becuase he would have taken time there, because his team has American Dave Z(abriske) who will likely give Ulrich a run for his money in the TTs. Furthermore I haven't looked closely at the course, but I have heard it said that it is more suited to Ulrich, because there are two very long time trails. Basso has said he expects to lose 2-4 minutes to Ulrich in them. Basso will have to climb even better than in past years to make that up in the mountains - but he showed in the Giro d'Italia that he is capable of that.
CRASH
Due to paint, wet pavement, and pilot error, I fell down HAARD today. Dislocated shoulder, overextended ankle, road rash on lower leg, hip, and elbow. In a bizarre crash damage thing, my front derailleur was somehow moved and in trying to get the chain back on from the outside, we broke the (carbon) cage. I always thought that was a dumb idea anyway so I'm gonna replace it with a Chorus instead of Record which is a nice aluminum thiing that weighs about the same anyway. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, which pretty much describes my decision to race today. I was feeling overwrought and out-of-focus, and in trying to close a gap, I went too fast in turn five. I didn't make that little nuanced move you have to do when crossing a wide swath of paint, and the front wheel slipped, I guess. So I'm laying there and my shoulder is out and guys are going around me which was cool, and I get my should back in ok. Finally get the chain on by breaking the cage of the FD, get to the pit and restart. I hang for six or eight laps but I'm not feeling good aside from the crash, and my shoulder and hip are hurting. Then I get a front flat and decide it is time to quit. Eventually I get dry and cleaned up and go home. Thanks to the people who helped me, wifey Holly, Jonas who made me lighten up, Andy MacDonald and his friends who found them, the EMTs, Bryan, other teammates too, also Kirsten Grove. Andy said "that's so Mark" to get up and go again after a hard fall like that.
Anyway the better part of valor would have been not to start a decision I will feel free to make in the future. It really wasn't the conditions that were the problem. I have done technical races in the rain this year without incident, it was just that I didn't seem to be able to maintain situational awareness due to some fatigue. So I am going to take a break. Fix my bike. Just ride to work. Focus on the MABRA TT and getting in sync with the new TT bike. Do some weekend rides. Be with the FAM. EM me if you want to go for a spin flythebike at gmail dot com. I will try to get back in shape for the MABRA RR too, plan on kicking some butt at track championships and defending my title at Turkey Day. But I think that for the most part, I've done enough crits for the year.
As for the BAR, Evan is the real winner, Freddy will probably take the title, or maybe Wade, Bo took a nice third today but anyway I am letting that go. Too grueling and the damage I took today isn't worth the prize to me anymore.
So I'll look forward to enjoying the TdF which starts next Saturday, can you believe it? I will be blogging the heck out of that race, so if you liked what I had to say about CSC and all my tactical insights and all that good stuff, be checking back.
Licking my wounds and taking a week off the bike,
Mark
Valero TT: No Practice makes not Perfect
I learned today that some things come naturally to me and some don't. Criterium racing comes naturally. I just ride my bike to work and go racing crits on the weekends and I do well.
But this year I have now ridden two very slow time trials. So number one it means I need to work on developing a powerful position on my new bike. Number 2 it means I need to practice specifically to do well in TTs, because evidently it isn't something I train on my own without focusing specifically on it. So thats cool. Good to know.
I used to do these time trials every week with the couriers called the Rough News. Well I got the Rough News today. 7th out of 7 guys. Fred 1st, Wade 4th makes the BAR look like this.
1 Evan 190
2 Fred 167
3 Wade 148
4 John 130
5 Bo 128
6 Mark 110
Like I said, rough news. Another way to look at it is that 105 people competed, and I was 46th fastest, so that makes it feel a little better.
So I come home and try to make myself feel better by looking at bike porn, the Dauphine Libre TT on Cycling dot TV and this URL: http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/karma.shtml
Reston is tomorrow and definitely another day. Best case I win it and pass Bo and John, and start to take back some points on Wade and Fred too. It is my home race so I will be motivated for sure.
Commuting Nirvana?
So I'm four for four this week on picking up the bike in the morning and riding it to work. Pretty stoked about that. It even turned into an all Evo training ride yesterday as Rudy rode with us. It seems pretty mellow until you get to this one road crossing near the Key Bridge. You have to share the intersection with traffic turning right off some big ol' road, and they always play chicken with you. Evidently the sign that says "Yield to persons in the Crosswalk" is too subtle for them, and the cops never ticket those that don't, so why shouldn't they just come as close to killing you as possible, as some jerk in an SUV did today with me? It can kind of put a damper on your ride. But I try not to let it bother me, just pretend I'm playing dodge ball. They keep talking about building a tunnel or an overpass or something, it isn't like they don't know it is a problem. But you know, priorities, war, tax breaks to the rich, etc., much more important than safeguarding lowly bike commuters and pedestrians.
We totally rode hard Monday, moderately tough Tuesday, and easy yesterday and today. Today we say this Coppi guy burning up the soft shoulder on the opposite side of the trail between Cedar and Vienna. Ok. Guess he was late and needed to get in some cyclocross practice. Or something. Also got to talk to a guy whose kid is doing Reston in the 10-14 on Sunday. Gave him some tips. Bryan rode home with Squirrel in the rain on Tuesday, and the S-man had a front flat that he rode on in a blinding downpour. Good times. Tip: next time take off the tire, it is easier to just ride on the rim!
I'll finish building the TT bike tonight/tomorrow and take it for an extended spin. I'm taking tomorrow off work to rest up for a big weekend of racing. TT on Saturday, Reston GP on Sunday.
New Whip
My generous teammate Jimmy Hargrove let me have his former tt bike, a P3SL. He moved on to a P3 carbon. I built it up as a fixed gear and rode it to work today to start getting the fit right. Pinched the cranks and saddle from my fixie. I got some Profile T2 bars on the thing and they are multi adjustible which is great. Reach, angle, even the tilt of the armrests can be changed. The frameset is slippery as can be in the wind. There is really noticeably less resistance. It is even pretty comfortable. That can be important on a tt bike, because the high pressure you tend to run on the tires can really beat you up on a rough road. Also very stiff when adding power. Anyway the fit may take some time so I won't be burning up the roads right away, but over time I'm sure I can ride some very fast times. Hopefully I'll be well fitted to it for the district tt championship in about a month.
BAR
1 Evan 190
2 Fred 152
3 Wade 139
4 John 130
5 Bo 128
6 Mark 104
As far as the BAR go, basically what happened this weekend was that Fred and Wade beat me, plain and simple. I got some points back on John and Bo, quite a few back on Bo in fact, so that is happy. Just edged John though. So anyway I will go to the TT next Saturday and see if I can ride like I mean it this time. Reston on Sunday is double points, and it is my home race, so you better believe I will be fully psyched and peaking like a something for that race. Lots of racing left, so we'll see what happens. One thing for sure I got 16 out of a possible 45 points this weekend, and I'm going to have to improve my game to bridge that gap up to the other guys. I skipped two races to rest while those dudes raced, so maybe that will be in my favor later in the year. There are like three months of racing left so anything can happen.
Silver Spring; Not Windy
if you read my post below first, the title of this post will make more sense.
I'd like to criticize NCVC's tactics. There was a guy away, Nick Bax, who has soloed successfully in the District RR, a race a couple weeks ago, and again today. Instead of getting their three solid guys: Wade, Stephen, and Frederick to run a paceline with me and John Raley and Mike Esmonde from RT. 1, and whatever other non cat 4 cat 3s in the race (pro wheelsuckers), they sent Stephen up the road solo, while they blocked. So Stephen is a strong guy, he dropped me while we were OTF at Bethesda last year, and won the race, while I was only 9th. So I respect Stephen, but he just became a three and that move was not going to work. So I pulled. John pulled. Mike E pulled. But Nick wasn't coming back. Stephen came back but Fred and Wade had left it too late to do any work, so Fred led Wade out, real nice job there, they blew past me on the backstrech, and I couldn't find my way around Fred in the turn, and Mike was in front of me too, and that was the way it stayed, so I got fifth. I mean it was nice they got 2nd and 4th and Stephen was top ten too, but c'mon who wants to race for 2nd? If Stephen had just taken a pull instead of trying to solo, then Wade probably wins the sprint for first instead of second. Just a thought...
Also a comment here on nose diving. Major nose dive done in turn one by some dude wearing a BAR jersey and TSV shorts. I had to either let him in or make him eat the curb and I let him in. Three seconds later I hear like six guys go down. Hmmmm. Let me just say that I didn't have to let him in, and assuming that me letting him in caused a domino effect that resulted in a crash, it really makes me wonder if it would have been more humane to stiff arm him and let him eat the curb. One guy vs. six guys (including my teammate Vic). I'd just like to point out that if you nose dive, the guy doesn't have to let you in, and if he doesn't and you eat curb, you have no one to blame but yourself. Especially in this case as were talking a 130 pound guy vs. a 185 pound guy. It isn't as if there weren't places to pass on this course, and the inside of turn one wasn't the most brilliant places to do it, that is for sure. Probably there wasn't a direct connection between that move and the crash, cause there were sketchy moves going on the outside of that turn too, but anyway, don't nose dive ok? (No this is not a guest post by Robb Hampton who is getting better at finales BTW, and was 12th).
TSV TT WINDY!
So my riding buddy Bryan and I often talk with each other about the weather conditions. "How was your ride?" "It was windy," one of us will say. We will even call one another and just say it was windy, and hang up. A real joke. Well, it was windy, very very windy out there on the Eastern Shore. I rode four minutes slower than last year, despite about the same heart rate. The only good news was that my hip didn't cramp like last year. Results are on this link: http://www.teamsnowvalley.com/Events/cctt/results.php. I was 15th. Clearly the worst time trial I've ever ridden, just couldn't get into a rhythym. I had some trouble with the bike fit, and I think my frame is too big. So a teammate is hooking me up with his very slightly used P3SL. Hopefully I can get that sucker dialed real quick, and head on out to Delaware for the Valero Time Trial.
BTW, the guy who won the Cat 3 was a Cat 5 at the start of the year. He totally smoked me. He looked strong the next day in Silver Spring, but he was dragging his feet through turn 4. Stay off the brakes rookie!
Cat 3 BAR after Quicksilver
So I met my goal of moving up a spot in the BAR. Here is what it looks like now:
1 190 Evan
2 125 Fred
3 124 Bo
4 116 John
5 111 Wade
6 88 Mark
7 86 Nate
8 72 Curt
I can win the TT on Saturday with a great ride, that is 15 possible points. Last year I was fifth there. This year I have a TT bike that I've been practicing on, a disk wheel and all that. Sunday is a 2X points crit in Silver Spring, 30 points and a big check on offer there. It would be great to win that race, take home about $200 and 30 points! Last year I was 2nd in the race after the Church Creek TT, so I hope to go one better there this year and just sweep the weekend, and get myself back into the mix for the podium (top 3 get a nice plaque).
Cycling Dot Television is Awesome
So I paid about 50 bucks to get a premium subscription to www.cycling.tv. The price seems pretty steep, but if your job is as tedious as mine is, an hour of live cycling coverage can really change a lot. Plus you can watch archived highlights on demand, which is also cool. I'm tellin' 'ya, there is nothing like the live drama of the finale of a bike race, it is just so exciting, straight up. Take the stage broadcast yesterday of the Swiss Tour. If you check for the results, you get this typical photo of Nuylens winning a stage from a four rider break. Today, you see how two dudes slipped the field with a few K to go, and hung on for a win. Ho-humm. So what?
But man, you go and watch those serious throwdowns live and it is just jaw droppingly amazing. Those four guys yesterday went clear over the top of a col. The speed they took the descent at was blinding. Fairly defining the word careen. They hit the run in into town and there are these two sharp corners that they take at about 40 miles an hour and you are like wow! You think you're pushing the envelope in your local criterium. Uh, I don't think you have anything on those guys. Then, you know Nuylens is the favorite for the sprint but to watch what he had to do to actually win, taking the sprint from the front from a really long way out was very, very impressive.
And today, the field rips itself to shreads, then comes back together and a couple field sprinters are there, Friere and Bennati. You think there is no way after busting it to get back up there that they'd let anything go. Then two dudes attack. Bam they have this tiny gap and you're like, oh, in a local race that gap wouldn't stick, they'd get caught. But no, the race was so hard they opened a gap on the run in. They hit 1K to go and have 13 seconds. They cat and mouse till the last 500 meters and then they have to go. Vicioso from the Wurth squad steals it from Euskatel's Herrero in the last few meters. Thats what you get for leading it out instead of getting caught by the pack! 2nd place. Bennati and Friere settle for 3rd and 4th, and a their team directors must be pretty disappointed in their squads for letting those two guys slip the field.
Starting to (ahem) get the picture? This is some amazingly cool stuff and not necessarily what you'd get in the Tour de France, a bit more seat of the pants kind of racing, not so diagrammed. So go get third in a Cat three race and spend the money on cycling tv, not diapers!
To the Victor Go the Diapers?
Have you ever wondered what you win for placing at a bike race? For my 3rd place at QS, I won 50 bucks, which is a generous payout by cat 3 standards for an industrial park crit. By contrast, I took home $42 for my win at Bunny Hop, and $120 for my 2nd at Seaford, which was a 2 day race. So I was more than pleased with fifty bucks. BTW my entry fee was $20 plus about $2 service fee. The next day I went to K-mart. Here's what fifty bucks can do:
92 size 4 (I think) diapers
29 pull up diapers
A small bottle of fabric softener
A toothbrush
2 64 ounce bottles of Rain Gatorade
A purple Franklin kickball-type ball that bounces pretty good -NOT LOPSIDED, although it is hard to put spin on the thing when you kick it.
I got two bucks and change back. We tried to find a present for a friend who is turning two soon, but K-mart didn't have what we wanted, a Fisher Price rolly-car-type-thing for a tot. We also looked for an umbrella stroller for Mr. Little Himself, but they were out of stock of that too. As the Rain Man said, "K-Mart sucks."
Todd Hipp 2nd at Quicksilver
In a sprinting duel between MSR's Mario and Evo's Todd Hipp, MSR came out ahead by half a wheel. It rounded out a great day for Evo with three podiums!
Podium(s) at Quicksilver
A good day out at the Quicksilver race course. I rode out there from my house. It was a huge headwind coming at me the whole way there, forcing me to go hard to stay on schedule. But once there, the race was running late, which meant I got to see Craig Clark feature in a three man break in the 50+. One Evo vs. two DC Velo. Craig had some nice blocking from teammate Paul who took some soft turns at the front to help the break stay away. The DC Velo dudes tried the old one two punch on Craig, but he was having none of it. He pulled them back to set up a sprint. He made that look easy and chalked up a V.
~50 guys and one woman started the Cat three race. Lots of little attacks and counters as people tried flyers to get primes, but nobody seemed too serious. Someone who shall remain nameless hit a cone with 8 to go, I had to dodge it and the thing bounced off my rear wheel. which caused a crash. Nobody was seriously hurt though, but I took him to task for it later...anyway on that lap a Snow Valley guy was clear, and Art from Coppi and Neil from Artemis were chasing. I bridged across as they rang the prime bell we tried to catch the SV. We didn't, but got him not long after seeing 7 to go. We had trouble getting an even tug going and we floundered a little bit. We gapped off Art. We had a good gap so I kept it going but eventually some dudes responded and a split came across to us. Only Frederick from NCVC was pulling though hard enough. Typical lame cat 3 break. Everybody has to give everything they've got just to make the gap and once they're clear they don't know how to keep it going by rotating through with enough speed. Or they expect everybody else to do the suffering and they don't work hard enough. I mean if you want to make it stick, you have to make it hurt like ick! I had slipped some of the sprinters so it was a bummer to get brought back. But I really needed one of those strongmen to drive the break with me, cause you get going so fast on the Quicksilver, which has a 35MPH downhill on the backside, that you have to really ramp up the speed there. Anyway at least my move strung out the field and caused some panic and forced a reaction. It was probably a little too early though. I'm going a TT next Saturday so it was good practice anyway.
I dropped back for a lap but came back around to the front. A young Snow Valley dude tried to go for a long one. It was real studly in a high school senior kind of way. That is to say, vain. Like he was going to hold off the whole field by himself for two or three laps at the end of the race. No. I kept some good position and got on Frederick's wheel at the bottom of the hill on the backside. I was second wheel, while one guy had attacked (way too early). I kind of zoned out and didn't really think hard enough about where I wanted to jump. So Bo Lee and John Raley take off on my left. The road there falls to the right, so they broke left in effect going up grade, hard. I was out of position and I couldn't really cover it, I had just blown the chance to win because I needed to have layed off and wound up, whereas I was just kind of on the wheel. We're coming up on the last turn and I figure out if I can get underneath Fred then that will be good, so I jump big time. I kick around Fred and pass mr. early dude exiting the corner. My jump took me clear of the rest so I just muscled over the gear seated, nobody pushed me for third, while I got a nice view of John and Bo sprinting it out for the win, with Bo taking the win about three lengths in front of me, with fourth about two lengths back of me.
So chalk up podim number five for me for the year. I had told myself that this was a good race for me, and I was hoping for a win today. The course really suits me, very fast, with a power climb and not too much speeding up and slowing down, and a wide open sprint finish. So it is a little hard not to win, but no shame to lose to Bo and John, two guys who are always banging. Count me in that lot too!
So, TT next Saturday, big money double points crit in Silver Spring on Sunday. I'm really gunning for a win in that TT. I've been training very hard on the TT bike and I'm totally fitted to it and extremely comfortable in the aero position. My goal is to set a personal record and win the race. I PR would probably take the win, my best time is 58:25. I think I can do one or two minutes better than that.
Sunday is not a great course for me perhaps, but maybe it will turn out well anyway. I did that race last year but was super tired so I shouldn't use that experience too much as a gage. Just need to stay in the front and make the race hard. The good news is I'm totally free of the doldrums and on the upswing, so I'm sure I can produce some more good results in the coming weeks and keep moving up in the BAR, I probably bumped up into 6th today. So, good job and two Evo podiums, I'll try to find out how the 1/2/3 went and post that later.
BAR Standing Updated
By now you've probably figured out that I skipped the new race up in Hampstead, Maryland. If you've never heard of it, I'm sure your not alone. It is just west of East Something. Anyway Freddy and John got some points there, so I'm about thirty points down on on the also rans. The leader has evidently upgraded, so perhaps us wee mortals can surpass him by season's end. Here is the top ten:
1 190 Evan Fader Rt 1 Velo/Capitol Hill Bikes
2 117 Frederik Andersson NCVC/Inova Health System
3 111 Wade Jennings NCVC/Inova Health System
4 109 Bo Lee WWVC/10-8 Duty Gear Cycling
5 104 John Raley Artemis
6 86 Nathan Coleman Johns Hopkins
7 78 Mark Kerlin Evolution/Team DLS
8 63 Curtis Winsor ABRT/Team Snow Valley
9 53 Mike Esmonde Rt 1 Velo/Capitol Hill Bikes
10 48 Nick Pakulla ABRT/Team Snow Valley
Despite scoring didley=squat points in the last month, I'm still 7th, just 39 points out of second. One showcase win and I'm back on terms. I know Frederick's wife is expecting in the next month or two, and Bo Lee is burnt out, and Evan Fader has upgraded, so if I can start to beat Wade and John consistently I can get into the mix. Nathan Coleman is a college guy so he might not be here for the summer, I don't know. I won't be missing any races for awhile, and I have a couple time trials coming up - of the top 7, I think only Freddy is likely to do any tts. I will continue to hold the intention of winnning the BAR, and take it one race at a time!
CSC Invitational Pro Race
Leaving my son at home wailing and refusing to either wear pants or take a nap, I headed off to see the big boys lap the course. My wife knows what a big show this race is and insisted I go, so isn't that just so awesome? Later I found out he was practicing hard on being a terrible two until he got his nap out. Then we had lots of fun while she went shopping, as he even made a few turns of the pedals on his trike and ran around in the back-yard, still refusing to wear pants. No wailing at all, so I lucked out.
I met up with cat 3 buds Wade and Freddy from NCVC and walked around the course. We'd walk, find a spot, watch them go by, walk for about a 45 seconds and pick a new spot, and then there they'd be again. It was really a cool way to observe the race. We watched Brad Huff from TIAA Cref get a 2 second gap and work it. Really frickin' impressive. A lesson to all you novices out there who sit up whenever you turn around and see somebody chasing you. He stretched it out to 10 seconds. Then people started to counter and it went back down to 2 seconds again. Did he sit up. N.O. spells no, people. So then Brooke Waters of Priority Health bridged the gap and the field stopped motoring, and bang, they've got thirty seconds. I hope they were gobbling up fat primes like PacMan gobbled up Inky, Blinky, Clyde and that other guy (Stinky? I think not). So my I am not worthy buddy the down-to-earth Lars Michaelson, top-five Paris-Roubaix dude and Ghent-Wevelgem winner back in the day (1995) starts trying to make a real bridge. Here is a shot the lap when he is setting up to make his move:
But the next lap he comes into the off camber turn five a few seconds ahead of the field, just that little bit too hot and dumps it. He slides around backwards and goes head first into the curb. Lesson to all you amateurs, pros remember to lift up their head slightly under those circumstances, so the head glances off the curb and you just crack your helmet, instead of breaking your neck. The front of the field is going ape after him cause he won the race two years ago, set up Cancellara for the win in this year's Paris Roubaix and all that. So they are mostly going to fast on the same line to and about 10 guys stack it with varying degrees of seriousness. Despite Lars's excellent technique I run over there kinda worried about him. I tell him he hit his head real hard and I think you're done for the day as he tries to get up. So he sits there for a minute or two and then unbelieveably gets up. Not so lucky is the guy that tanked into him, endoing and landing with all his weight right on his hip. They took him away in a cart. I'm guessing he broke his hip but I don't know. I've done the same thing (in a different way) and I'm here to tell you the rehab is long, painful and just totally awful. So I hope he didn't break it.
Anyway the motorcycle sits there and guards these guys, and Hilton Clarke from the Navigators makes the bridge Lars was meaning to. They keep banging while everybody in the field gets the shakes from the crash and remember that bike racing is dangerous. They get some primes to keep going and they hold the break off from lapping distance, but don't close the gap any either. Meanwhile there is steady attrition at the back of the field. In a local point of honor, Rockville-Harley Davidson's elite team was not the first to be dropped. They hung on for varying degrees of time, one or two guys really lasting for quite awhile, but one guy went down too, and wasn't getting up either. He crashed on a long straight, probably a tangle as the course narrows there slightly. As the winner later said in a moment of obviousness and wisdom "You've got to pay attention out there." Sounds simple but when your mind is clouded in an anerobic haze, it is much easier said then done.
Eventually the fatigue gets to a guy in the break, and he loses it in turn five as well:
You take an off camber turn at the bottom of a hill that you can easily take at over 30mph, put a brick sidewalk in the middle off it, add a couple of bumps, cook at 98.6 degrees at a heart rate of 190 for about an hour, and what do you expect? Hope he got some primes, poor sod. I saw him walking away and he looked like the prom king whose queen wouldn't dance with him. Still, the break held its lead unabated, minus one dude.
Then I got to pow wow with my elite teammate Peter Dickenson and Julie, who I guess is his wife. I sat there and really dug a nice chicken/avacado/cheese sandwich. Mmmmmm. We talked about doubling up (doing two races) and he said "Just do one good one." Right on. Then as I walked up the street to go feed my car's meter, I saw Brent, who was 6th in the 1/2/3. In true sprinter fashion he mentioned how he would have liked to win the field sprint (for fourth) but that he was still pleased. Considering all the quality talent that got shelled in that race (~ two cat 3s finished) with only 26 finishers, pretty awesome if you ask me. But yeah, I know there is something satisfying about winning the field sprint after the bitterness of missing the break, so I get him.
So to bring this novella to a close, the break gets caught. Another crash happens in turn one this time, with half-a-dozen laps to go. Bikes and dudes are flying into the curb on the outside. Somebody's bike flips up into the air and smacks a metal sign and it makes that weird flexing metal sheet sound. Woomp-whooump-boing. I was on that outside line a lot and man that curb sure could get close, so I guess somebody finally hit it or got squeezed and tangled up. Whatever, there was a big pile of bikes and dudes just laying there. Somebody drags a couple bikes that were stuck together off the course, picking them up as one. Then one disentangles itself and sickly falls, landing on the front wheel and slowly tipping onto its right side. That is just wrong. Anyway I guess the crash took out some of the remaining sprinters so that opened up some chances for the 22 guys left in the field. Haedo out. Dominguez out. Michaelson out. Etc.
I gate crashed my way into the cheap seats (on top of some newspaper machines). Great minds think alike - old courier buds Shane and Aaron made the same move and we could see some Kodak guy on the front with three turns to go. The winner must have made a move there, then hit the front and gunned it with two turns to go, and we saw him alone on the right with a good gap as he hit the top of the rise on Wilson and launched his sprint. For a non-sprinter, Mark McCormack can lay down some zip when he needs to, not bad for a 35 year old geezer. The other dudes were way on the left, in an eschelon across the road, making a bid for second.
Aussie Karl Menzes, who is just an impressive looking dude, all legs below the waist and a lean muscular triangle on top, was best of the rest. I wouldn't want to fight that guy.
So that's it, another race day in Clarendon goes down in history. If you missed it man you should be kicking yourself. Great bike race, fun people watching, all your friends there and when you meet the pros after the race you can tell them you raced that morning and you know how dang hard the course is. I mean only 25 pros finished. Well over 100 starters. The rate of attrition in this race is higher than just about anything. The straights are long enough to go really really fast, but the turns are so tight you really have to slow down, so all of that just wears people down. Every year it is the same, with like ten laps to go people just crack up physically, emotionaly, and spiritually. It really tests everything you've got, phew, I get tired just writing about it! Thanks for reading!
CSC Invitational/Masters 35+ & Cat 1/2/3
Well, after a week with only one commute to work for training, I rode to Clarendon with Rudy and lined up for the Masters 35+. The rain was spotty, just enough to make puddles on the rough course, making manhole covers scary too. You'd hit the puddle in turn two and have to loosen up your line or slip. One lap two I totally slid out in turn 1, probably after I got tentative and hit my brakes. I didn't let it happen again. My right cleat came loose right at the start so that made getting out of the tight fifth turn difficult, 'cause you'd have to stand up and sprint to really get going, and my cleat was moving around whenever I tried to stand up. It was distracting more than anything. I felt ok but the race is so early, it is hard to feel really good. Still a bit tired, but not that bad.
So Grant Soma and his teammate drilled it from the gun and got a gap directly. They took 20 seconds. Now, Some is a fantastic time trialist so it wasn't so great to have let this guy get away. But it wasn't like I could really do anything about it. I was hanging around in the top ten for awhile, but I was no help really, I couldn't pull. Clearly I'm having a training issue with making power surges while above threshold, I just can't a) produce enough watts, and b) I can't recover quickly enough. The a) is a persistent problem for the last few races, the b) is probably because of the rest week. Whatever, this was harder than a standard category three race, my heart rate hovering about 187 when I checked, whereas at Bikejam it seemed to hang around 180.
So then four or five guys went after them. I was right there but I was pegged and couldn't match their accel when they went. Sucks to just watch the race go up the road. Maybe my head still isn't quite right, not totally primed for the suffering. It was a bit better, though.
Not that I was paying attention, but I guess those guys caught Soma, and they got within a short distance to the field and Ramon bridged, then attacked the field. Nice. After being useless near the front, and the field down to like 30 guys or less anyway, I went to the back, and that is where I finished. A bit disappointing to be just ok for Clarendon, but I guess it taught me that I need to build more rest periods into my season, instead of just trying to ride well in every race.
So I visited the Mavic support tent and they tightened up my cleat for the 1/2/3 race. I got off to a good start and was like man you guys turn like crap compared to the masters. Tons more braking, just way, way, way too slow. So I'm flying around people in the turns, but man these guys did have the gas in between turn 2-3, on Highland street, which has a slight uphill after a momentum killing turn, and there was a wild headwind out there this morning. I mean it would grab me and just toss me like five feet to one side. By the 1/2/3 race I was used to it and could hold myself steady, though. But anyway I was just hanging on there, and then I couldn't really get up to speed out of turn five onto the long, soft uphill straight so like 15 guys passed me on lap three or four, then another 10 then next lap, and then I was on the back. I look down and we're like maybe 10 minutes into the race, my heart rate is only like 179, but I'm having a problem, just don't have the energy and don't think I can do this for another 50 minutes, so I let go and just cruise for a few laps, having fun getting to shoot my own lines. Some brainless spectator is like five feet out onto the course in turn one, just standing there, doesn't even see me and the three or four other guys near me. Lucky that didn't turn ugly, fortunately she was so oblivious that she didn't even try to jump out of the way. So I get pulled.
My wife and son were there and it was fun to see my son cheering da-da-da-da and standing up and waving his 1.5 year old arms and then it was nice to see them after the race too. It was cool to look at the 1/2/3 and see Frederick Anderson and Evan Fader rolling in the front. Maybe if Evan won that he'd consider upgrading to two? I don't know because my son was melting down into another puddle so we took him home. We'll go back and check out the pros in about an hour and I'll write that up later and hopefully I'll get some decent snaps too.
All in all a good day of racing, nice to see what I need to work on and glad to at least hang in an open age graded race. I might race tomorrow up in Maryland if I'm feeling it, take it easy again next week and do Quicksilver, then Church Creek Time Trial, and then maybe Silver Spring, hope to be banging again by the time our race, The Reston GP comes around. Peace out!
