Flythebike

2011 TDF

2011-07-25T10:17:00.000-07:00

Out of 23 Tours I have watched 15 of them have been basically lopsided wins by heavy favorites. Of those year where favorites won only two: '95 and one during the Lance era, 2003, were closely contested. Of the other years I remember 1989, 1998, 2006, and 2008 as pretty dramatic. This year was probably more interesting than any tour but 1989. Many of the stages were hotly contested and intensely dramatic. For example stage sixteen saw a long break succeed. It was a mountain stage and three riders rode clear of the break on the climb, with 30k of descending and flat to the finish. A massive pursuit race developed between the riders and the outcome hung in doubt until the conclusion of the stage. There were many stages like that, and the overall race outcome was likewise in doubt until the penultimate stage. Great tour.

Why I Quit Racing

2008-07-29T12:56:00.000-07:00

In the context of a discussion about a driver who killed a cyclist I had an email exchange with Scott Thompson, and he asked my why I quit racing, after I had had such an amazing year racing in 2006. Here are my thoughts.

Yeah I guess I achieved what I wanted, I proved I could come back from all my injuries and make it to cat 2. Problem was I didn't really find cat 3 to be all that challenging, I was top five in every race that I had a right to be top five in, I don't really want to do masters and race with cat fours, and if I race pro,1,2 I'm racing people with no life but the bike. It just didn't feel like there was a place for me anymore. And honestly, racing is very repetitive. There are only so many courses and the people and tactics are basically the same. It is dangerous, expensive, time-consuming, and exhausting. I guess I just didn't feel like I was getting much out of it.

The fire to race just went out of me and you can't be lukewarm about racing, you have to be crazy for the bike and for the win or there is just no point. So I just took my upgrade and my cat 2 license is on my fridge. Also factoring heavily into all this is the fact that I have broken my left ankle twice, my left thigh in two places (still has a femur-length plate) my right foot also was broken, and my right tibia (very bad break just below the knee). All the racing and training was putting a lot of strain on my body and my past injuries and I was just tired of being in pain all the time. I'm going to start physical therapy for some of that stuff after my vacation next week.

Craig Clark's accident has underlined the danger part as well, although we all know that you can get hit by a bus just as easily as die in a bike race.

We have another child due in 2-3 months and I'm looking forward to that.

The thing I love best about cycling is the gamesmanship. The physical aspect is secondary to me. I love the tactics. Watching the Tour this year trying to figure out CSC's tactic on the Alpe, that was so awesome. Seeing the two up sprint the next day, amazing fun. I felt like I had figured out just about everything I could about the tactics, and I was just done. Lately I've been playing a lot of Warcraft, I'm learning a lot about gamesmanship there. I might write a book on it someday, game theory, that sort of thing. It's a subject that has always fascinated me.

If you look at how I raced you can see that. For example my win in Bunny Hop taking it all the way from the second to the last corner to the line. That win was equal part daring tactics, cornering skill, and speed.

Remembering Jay Moglia's First Race

2008-04-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

So I was checking out Jay Moglia's blog the other day. http://rawtalent.lostriverbarn.com/
I like it.

It got me to thinking about his first race so I wrote up a post about our trip.

It was in Wilkes Barre, PA. We drove up the night before in my 1976 BMW 2002. Black. Roof Racks. Spent the night in some motel. Nasty four corner crit course with a one lane road between turns 2 and 3. Rectangle. Slight rise between turn four and the finish line. Turn two had a rough surface in addition to being narrow and some guy was whining/yelling at me for racing in the turns. I did the 3s while Jay did 4s or citizen or whatever they had then don't remember but I remember Jay spent the whole race about 15 meters off the back. He was on the Behemoth (Cannondale touring bike) with the Girvin flexstem.

We were both working for Pro courier at the time. Their fleet of couriers was four. Me (three days a week), Jay, Andre (he also rolled in a white Chevette with his girl sometimes) and a guy named James, who later started his own courier business, the James Express (which consisted of him only). James rolled on a hybrid and while I'm sure he could get going pretty fast, I think we probably snickered a bit at the name. Us going racing left them shorthanded. So John the dispatcher came downtown and covered for us, doing like 57 runs or something.

Used to see James on the street for years but he finally disappeared for good around 2003. Also kept in touch with John for a longish time, he went into the trucking business. He did some long haul trucking and dispatching for a company down in Springfield, bought a house around Lorton with his 2nd wife. Finally lost touch with him around 2001. Andre was a shady haven't seen him in 15 years.

Good times.

The 2007 Tour de Farce (France)

2007-07-30T10:37:00.000-07:00

I find it very difficult to believe that anyone who hasn't been Lost for the last ten years finds the events in this year's Tour de France to be even remotely surprising. Let's review:

2006 Floyd Landis: need I say more? Ok I will. He was doing something unbelievable, riding the Tour well with a bum hip. I have a bad hip and let me tell you it can hurt like heck and be very very performance impairing. He blew up and lost tons of time one day and then returned the very next day to smash faces. It seemed impossible and if we remember good old theologian Occam, the simplest explanation is the most likely one, namely it is no surprise that he turned back a positive test as the story was just too good to be true.

1999-2005 Lance Armstrong. Dogged by doping accusations, he never tested positive. Ok. I used to believe in the Easter Bunny, and I suppose it is possible that he exists, but chances are he is just a myth. My point is simply that as more and more of his close competitors are outed as drug cheats, it becomes progressively more difficult to believe that he raced clean. I want to believe. But the thick corruption in the sport makes it so difficult to conclude that he was the exception to the rule that the Tour winner doped. Is it possible. Sure. But I'm skeptical.

1998 Marco Pantani - who died of a cocaine overdose recently. If I remember correctly, though he didn't test positive during that Tour, he was caught with performance enhancing drugs at other times. In this case (1998) he was simply not caught red handed with EPO and steroids in his room like so many others were. Again, the answer Occam would give: the winner doped.

1997 Jan Ullrich. Caught up in Operation Puerto (OP) he was forced out of last year's tour and out of the sport this year. Ullrich was a teammate of Bijarne Riis in in 1996 and 1997. Riis won the 1996 Tour. Riis admitted this year to taking EPO and famously invited officials to come take his yellow jersey, which is in a box at his house. It is more than reasonable to assume that Riis's protege, 1997 winner and 1996 runner up Jan Ullrich, was dirty all those years he chased Armstrong, which again makes it even harder to believe Armstrong was clean. It does seem to me that the dedication of Armstrong exceeded that of Ullrich, but it is possible that is simply a bill of goods that I've been sold by the media. Other riders who finished just behind or around Ullrich and Armstrong such as Joseba Beloki and Alex Vinokurov have since been discredited in drug scandals. 1996 & 1997 Occam would say: The winner doped.

It always seemed strange that Riis, a guy who was simply a domestique for Super U/Castorama for so many years suddenly started winning Tour stages late in his career and then dethroned Big Miguel Indurain. With the confession of Riis, we realize that it was in fact unbelievable. The winner doped. A product of the East German system if I remember correctly, can anyone truly be surprised that Ullrich followed the path of Riis?

1991-1995 EPO was around but couldn't be reliably tested for. Many cyclists died in those days from EPO related problems. As I recall from an ABC TV report, 14 Dutch and Belgian riders died suddenly while the doping doctors were working out how to deal with the side effects of EPO on cyclists around the year 1989 or 90. A young Dutch widow of one of those men wondered why in a wrenching interview. The winner of those five tours was Miguel Indurain. He was a very very big talent and a very big man. I always found it a bit more than human that in addition to winning time trials by 3 minutes, a 6' 2" guy @172 lbs could stay with the best climbers in every single mountain stage. Despite the fact that there is no evidence and that he never returned a positive test, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that what he did was impossible to explain without the addition of drugs. Just following Occam here that the simplest explanation is the most likely. The winner doped. If you see something that seems unbelievable, it probably is unbelievable.

In this year's Tour I found it amazing to watch Rasmussen winning the final mountain stage while not even looking tired. If you have read through the Book of John, you remember the story of the doubting Thomas. Thomas couldn't believe that Jesus was risen from the dead until he saw the wounds that Jesus bore. Jesus told the Eleven that a man who could see and believe was blessed, but a man who could believe on faith was even more blessed. I don't think Jesus had ever seen the Tour de France...I'm through believing things that I see that just don't seem possible. If somebody can ride almost an entire Tour and not even look fatigued at the end of the final uphill test, it is simply unbelievable. If I big man can destroy small men in time trials and keep up with them over the biggest mountains I call BS. As W.C. Fields said, a thing worth having is a thing worth cheating for.

Until I'm convinced the Tour and professional cycling at large is clean, I will not believe what I see if it seems inhuman. I will not waste my time on what is essentially a reality show. The things I'm seeing appear to be real, they are really happening, but they just can't be believed. Suspension of disbelief is for movies, not sport. I invite all cycling fans everywhere to adopt The Kerlin Axiom: The Tour winner doped unless there is a compelling reason to believe otherwise.

You have to understand how much it pains me to say this. Until this year I had seen almost every broadcast minute of every stage of the Tour de France going back to 1989. I borrowed videos from the four or five years prior to that. I used to tape 30 minute or one hour broadcasts on ESPN 2 at 1:30 AM. I went to Paris on my honeymoon and saw the final stage of the 2002 Tour, the elbow of some guy pressed hard into my ribs for hours in the hot sun so I could be on the barrier and see Armstrong lap the Champs while a French secret service cop cursed and kicked the curb when Jalabert's break was caught in his final tour. When the Tour is losing fans like me, the sport is in big, big trouble. At this point, asking Jesus to do something may not be a bad idea, because the mortals seem to be at a loss for a fix.

Cycling Movies

2007-05-02T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm looking forward to seeing The Flying Scotsman. http://www.mgm.com/ Trying to hook up a time to go see it with a couple of friends. I was racing and riding in the days of Graeme Obree and I remember the twists and turns of his career very very well. I consider him to be a true bicycle philosopher in the sense of the way he applied his vision to the actual mechanics of cycling. Let me unpack what I mean in that suitcase of a sentence in my next paragraph.

First one understands locomotion. This starts when a baby rolls over for the first time. It develops with crawling, cruising and walking. One understands motion and the need and joy of moving somewhere. Then one sees the inventions around that allow for more options than just walking. Most will grab up the easiest one available to them at the available age, a car. And most cyclists will do the same thing with their bike, just grab it up and ride, perhaps adjust the seat here, the handlebars there, the cleat, perhaps delve into the different kinds of wheels and tires. The point is that it that it takes a very developed cycling psyche to grasp how to customize a machine to draw out the best from one's body.

Graeme Obree took this about as far as anyone ever has. His existential grasp of the bicycle was so firm that he designed a revolutionary position that fit him perfectly and made the most of his ability. http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/nmspic.php

Now, many of us, myself included, have had these kinds of cycling satori moments. But I never took apart my washing machine and made them into reality, much less cleaned up with world records as the result! So in that way Graeme Obree is a very real hero to me.

Given the sad state of affairs in professional cycling regarding doping, we have very few of these heroes left to us anymore. Indeed we have to look into the past to find one. Therefore, I will go out of my way to the land of Mary this coming weekend, to Bethesda, or perhaps downtown, and revel in the great and wonderful story of Graeme Obree. Starts Friday, May 4 at the Bethesda Row Cinema and E Street Cinema. Send me an email if you want to come. fly the bike one word at g mail one word dot you know what.

Also, Breaking Away is killer and showing soon in Adams Morgan on some patch of green somewhere, I think www.waba.org had the info.

I don't have time right know to write up all that I feel about Peter Nye's America's Jazz Age Sport DVD, which I borrowed from my dentist BTW :) (Nye uses Marty Turner too), but it is just terribly awesome as well, a must see.

Fitness Test...Multiple Choice Test, What's the Difference?

2007-02-25T05:34:00.000-08:00

No updates for such a long time...why? Well most of the riding I do is to work. For 36 days in a row it was below freezing when the sun came up. Now if it is 30 degrees, no real problem, but you'd have been hard pressed to find a 30 degree day since mid-January. I'm not really one to train on a trainer. I ride for fun. I have a job, and riding my bike ain't it. If it ain't fun, I ain't doin' it. Riding in 20 degrees with a wind chill to boot plus whatever speed you're riding, forget that. I know, %#$& attitude, but that is where I'm at, no point in pretending things are otherwise.

That said my diet has been pretty good, and I have gotten in rides here and there, and I run rather than walk a lot of places, so I don't feel too sluggish. But when I went to do a Vo2 max test yesterday my thought that I shared with Coach Adam (Coon) was that I felt like I was about to take a test for which I had not studied. His characteristic tongue-in-cheek reply was that he had heard that A or B was usually a good choice (like on a multiple choice test). Really lightened me up to hear that!

Anyway I did the test and my power was way off, like 40 watts. But my max heart rate was up by like 8 beats, from around 195 to 203! So that is pretty much what you would expect I guess. I have low power from not riding, but can really jack up my hr because I'm well rested (although I plan on taking a nap today :)). So I'm sure many people will be shocked to hear that I don't plan on racing until the Carl Dolan race at Columbia, MD. NO I WILL NOT BE RACING TO WIN JEFFERSON CUP (Hilly race) SHOCKER!

Happy trails,
Mark

A Merry Christmas

2006-12-31T07:30:00.000-08:00

I'm about to finish a period of about 10 days off the bike as I'm on vacation. I'm at my in-laws in Arkansas. It has been really great being here. Spending Christmas here was really different than anything I've experienced before. I'm an only child. My cousins are half my age. Our family is split between East Coast and West Coast. And it is small to begin with.

But the family here is huge. The Reeves side had 19 people at the family get-together. The Bone side was more like 10, which isn't huge I know, but Piero has a great (to say the least) restaurant in downtown Jonesboro and on Christmas Eve many of the staff came over to the house and partied. So that was about 20 people as well. So much life and so much warmth was just what I needed. A great chance to step outside of myself and be part of something bigger.

I hope this turns into a theme for the coming year. I want to successfully integrate into being part of the team. Last year I was mostly just riding for myself after April as our Cat 3 team had kind of a dud-ish year after that. It wasn't really their fault, some had awful travel and others were training but not racing well for some unknown reason. They'll get it together this year I know and produce at least one new cat 2.

In 2007 I'll be part of a group of guys that have skills that are equal to or greater than mine and our best chance will be to work as a unit. I've ridden a few times with Pedro, Mark and Peter and I'm just hanging on out there. Hopefully I can get used to it and stick it out in the races and have some punch left at the end of the race.

So anyway I've had a good rest. I haven't gone crazy at the table. I've gotten in a few workouts. I feel fresh body and soul. I'll be ready to be crazy for the bike once I get back to the land of big GOV. Peace out and go San Diego Chargers!

This post has nothing to do with bike racing, or does it?

2006-12-04T06:58:00.000-08:00

http://moronland.net/moronia/moron/1035/

It is about ducks. Warning. The cute don't survive.

Hipp and Fuentes Leave Evo

2006-12-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

I heard today from Pedro that Todd and Dave have joined the former RHD/ M Street Racing Team. Evidently their new sponsor's infusion of cash drew them away. I wish them luck but I'm sorry I'll have to line up against them from time to time. I've been teammates with Todd on two different teams but we seem to be ships passing in the night as far as racing together. He led me out for a win at Turkey Day in the 3/4 in 2005 and I was hoping to return that favor to him this year somewhere, guess that isn't gonna happen! Both guys have a big Camelback full of talent and I wish them the best. If you're a cat two looking for a team I guess we have two spots open now!

Coach Adam & Evo's Elite Team

2006-11-28T11:34:00.000-08:00

One of the things I'm excited about for the coming year is that Adam Coon is coaching me. As Robb Hampton has pointed out to me (when he wasn't calling me out for being a tool) I'm one of those guys that is tough to deal with if I can make it to the end of a race, but particularly on some courses, that is a big ask for me. For instance, I soloed across to the break in the 3/4 race at the Poolesville RR this year, but when there was an attack on the final 'climb' (more of a longish hill), I was dropped. I won Bunny hop the next day so if I had any abilility to climb at all, I would surely have been placed better than the 13th place that I did earn there.

As our national sage Donald Rumsfeld has pointed out, there are known knowns, and unknown knowns, etc. In this vein, Adam Coon (no relation to Mr. Rumsfeld) has agreed to help me work out my blind spots. It isn't so much that I don't know what they are, rather Adam's particular talent is giving me a plan to address them. Then it is up to me to follow the plan and make the gains. So far it seems like it is starting to work. I'm not about to predict a win in next year's Giro di Coppi, but I do think his plan will help me make my transition to cat 2 as successful as my move from 4 to 3 was. That is my goal for 2007.

What would that look like? I had a fistful of podiums including a win last year. I'm going to hold an intention (any Wayne Dyer fans out there?) that I can achieve that kind of success again in 2007. I don't 'expect' this to happen. I'm not saying this from a place of either pride or hope, but I know that I have to set goals to motivate myself to make the sacrifices I need to make to make that possible. If I'm not dangling a race win out in front of myself as a carrot, then I neet to take up competitive chess. There are some local race courses out there that I'm well suited to, and it is possible I could take one of them out. It is up to me to do a great off-season so I can make that happen.

One of my other primary goals is to become an indespensible member of Evolution Cycling's Elite Racing Team. We really really do have one of the best teams in the region. We deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Rockville Harley/M Street, (maybe) Snow Valley, NCVC, and DC Velo. We've got sprinters like Nima, Todd Hipp, and Nigel. We have breakaway artists Warno and Fuentes. Experienced stalwarts Hijar, O'Malley, McGill and Dickason. I want to learn from these guys and become one of them!

Mike Garcia Wheel

2006-11-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

I have enough miles on my new rear wheel to comment on it. It was built up on my DT 240S hub which I had had for 2 years. First, he was great to email with to figure out the best way to build it up to suit my needs. We ended up using DT bladed spokes and the same kind of rim that I'd had before, an R1.1 DT rim. 32 holes, 3 cross, black spokes with silver brass fasteners. It was a bit heavier than the previous build but that build wasn't so sturdy. So I wanted something that was still responsive and fun to ride, but that wasn't up on the truing stand every other week.

I mailed him the hub and had the wheel back in 2 or 3 weeks. The wheel was perfectly true and round out of the box. Upon putting it on the bike, I was real impressed by the feel of the wheel on the first ride. It was impeccably tight feeling. What I mean is that it was stiff without being too stiff. And - this is weird - the wheel felt like it lowered the center of gravity of the bike. It was so non-floppy that the bike handled better. Pretty dang amazing.

After riding a couple hundred miles on it, I decided to try abusing it some to see what would happen. I hopped off a couple curbs, bunny hopped some debris on the road, stuff like that. I managed to loosen up one of the non-drive spokes and put the wheel significantly out of true. But I got home and retensioned that one spoke, and it went right back into true/round and it has stayed that way ever since. In my experience this kind of thing is fairly normal with a new wheel as everything settles into place. Most wheelbuilders will tell you to bring it back after a bit to let them deal with this kind of situation, so it doesn't bother me at all.

I'm impressed with his wheels and when the funds become available I will probably get a low spoke count Mike Garcia wheelset for my tt bike, and get him to rebuild the front wheel of the DT wheelset in a year or so. His website is www.oddsandendos.com if you're interested.

I think with his stuff you get a better deal than on boutique pre-builts, you can get them a bit lighter, and they are easier to service. Yet the performance is comprable.

Saturday Ride in SD

2006-11-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Well since I stepped on a piece of glass on Thanksgiving, I decided to forgo the SDBC ride as I didn't want to overdo my foot. I spent all Friday on the couch watching NFL replay and Inside the NFL, also the Floyd interview on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel. My 2 year old can now say "Touchdown"! And my dad taught him to pound (touch fists). So that meant the Friday plans (go to San Diego harbor to see some ships) were pushed back to Saturday and I wanted to save some energy, so I decided to do 2 hours on the bike.

I rode out past Fairbanks ranch in ritzy Rancho Santa Fe and was pleased to find that where that road used to dead-end, it continued. So I kept on going, enjoying the gentle rise of the road which made it easy to hit the target HR. The road finally T'd so I turned right and I stopped for a nature break. Right after that I saw a group coming down the road so I went and caught up to them. They were some kind of team or something because they were all aboard Bill Holland Titanium bikes, all eight of them. We meandered into Rancho Bernardo as they went exploring for a route that would take them inland and then back down to Point Loma, where they had started. All these roads were new, in perfect shape, and had wide shoulders with bike lanes. I reached my time limit and turned around after chatting with them for a bit. Real nice folks, I'll try to hook up with them again next time I'm out there.

Later I went and saw a Soviet Submarine B 39 I think it was called and the replica Age of Sail British Frigate HMS Rose aka Surprise as seen in Master and Commander, the Far Side of the World. Also we went to the San Diego Maritime musuem which is aboard the old steam ferry Berkeley. Great fun, there was a pirate exhibit aboard the Rose, as well as a modeled lay-out of the Battle of Trafalger, a famous sea battle that featured something like 60 Ships of the Line. The neatest thing was to go into the Captain's cabin. The most spacious room on the ship, it was still only about as 12'x16' or something, and featured two gun ports.

Forecast: Sunny and 70

2006-11-23T18:34:00.000-08:00

Greetings from San Diego where the forecast is always sunny and 70. I've been here for about 10 days and it has been that way every day except for the one I arrived, which was foggy and misty. I've done three good rides since I've been here.

The first one had to be after a full day working our convention here. The motivation was that we were having our staff dinner that night. So I wanted to be able to eat guilt free so after I worked 7 to 4 I put on my lights and went out and rode for three hours. I got kind of lost as San Diego is now an unfamiliar place to me and I almost rode onto interstate 8. It was this road that just dumps you onto the freeway with little warning. Then I rode by a Costco and waved to all the people waiting for Playstation 3s, and fortunately I heard no gunfire.

Then I stopped in at the Bicycle Warehouse to pick up a book about riding around here as I've evidently forgotten how. That led me to the ride I did today. Out from my Mom's house in Del Mar, north through Camp Pendleton past many many banners welcoming home Dad, the pleasant smell of Turkey wafting across the road. Quite a barren looking yet living landscape here compared to the East Coast. Far, far less green trees, but the hills are alive, if rather brown.

They have bike lanes everywhere here but although it seems like that should be heaven it isn't. Runners use them. Slower bikes use them. So if you want to keep going you've got to pull into the road to get around. Some guy in his car was less than pleased about this and followed me as I stopped at a bathroom. Anytime anybody starts in by saying "I don't mean to butt (yes, two ts) in, but..." that you are in for a lecture. I'm standing there urinating as he starts in on me. It wasn't long before he started condescending to me, calling me son. The lecture was basically that I have no business being out in the road since there is a bike lane for me and that I'm going to get myself killed. My best retort was when I called him dad after he called me son, and rode off. This turned out to be a questionable decision when he drove about three miles up the coast and cut me off at the pass, trying yet again to pick a fight with me. I told him to go pick on somebody else and just kept riding. Yet again I forgot to take down the plate number until he was gone.

I'll tell you what. You hear that there is all this good juju here in SoCal, that people are so laid back here but they check there mellow at the door here just like they do most places. In fact, the speeds on the roads are so high on the highways that I spend half the time riding the imaginary brake pedal in the passenger seat when we're not sitting in traffic. Anyway I'm sure the cagers here are no meaner to bikies here than anywhere else, so I'm not going to go any further than that, but it is not a mythical paradise. On par the bike lanes are a good thing but they have their dark sides too.

The book also helped inspire a nice ride last Sunday up to Cabrillo national monument. Here is a photo I found on Google that gives you an idea of the great view it affords. You can see downtown San Diego's rapidly changing skyline there on the right, next to the tree in the above picture.

I'll sample the SDBC ride on Saturday. Bet they mark me as a Phred, as I'm riding with hairy legs and on my Dad's circa 1990 Trek 1100. A triple chainwheel. Bar-end shifters: Seven speed Suntour. The cool thing is that I brought my own shoes and pedals, as well as my own saddle. And the bike has a a Look Ergostem - an adjustable stem - so I can get the reach and height right. I'm sure it will be sunny and 70 so the rest is up to me.

Cat 2

2006-10-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

The MABRA upgrade coordinator had a moment to review my upgrade over the weekend and it was approved. So I'm officially a Category 2. I'm very pleased. Yet I realize this isn't a destination, rather it is a state of being. I'm working very hard so that I can duplicate the immediate impact I had on the peloton when I upgraded from 4 to 3. There are currently just ~1300 category 2s in the whole country and ~600 cat 1s, so the air is getting pretty thin.

Fixed Gear Riding

2006-10-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

Commutted on the fixed today. 3:1 gear ratio is really hard to stay on top of, but it is great fun to sprint over hills with it. Working on my strength and power so I thought I'd push that thing around today. Good idea, but it was one of those things that I sure didn't feel used to at all. The bike is so light though it feels like a toy. Still, the gear made for a nice lopey ride when I wasn't burning it up.

Mountain Biking

2006-10-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

I went mountain biking this weekend. I don't have the time for a really long post right now. But man, I had no idea what I was missing. About 8 of us Evoites went out riding at Shaeffer farms in Gaithersburg. Man that was fun. I'm really glad I went with a bunch of people because it promotes this I can do anything you can do idea. If you see somebody successfully go over some whoop-de-do or log or whatever, you figure you can probably do it too. I mean I didn't try the huge logs, but smaller ones were fine. I just did my cyclocross thing on the big logs, which is every bit as fast really.

On the new bike, a Fisher X-Calibur, I was in a bit of a fight with it for awhile. You know - too much braking, tenative in downhill and technical sections. All to be expected. It is a great bike to be sure and I'm sure I won't surpass its capabilities for awhile. It is a 29er and it really rolls over stuff, just point and shoot.

This one guy on Evo, Todd Hipp, who is fixing to be a cat one is a totally rad mountain biker. I didn't even know this.

I'm going to have lots of fun with this cross training tool over the winter. I feel like I just found Jesus! It is like - have you seen the light? YES, YES, I HAVE SEEN THE LIGHT.

New R600 Dura Ace Post on Bikeforums dot Net

2006-10-11T19:22:00.001-07:00

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=235945

This guy wins the award for biggest tool in the universe. He tops me by far even on my absolute worst days. He even tops Chad Vader. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wGR4-SeuJ0 episode four came out today...

Cross/Commuter Bike upgrade

2006-10-09T18:47:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to sit here and listen to Pearl Jam Live at Benaroya Hall and blog about my bike. A couple of years ago I bought a Lemond Poprad, because I wanted to get into cyclocross. My friend and then teammate Joe Kotun was spreading the good news about cross bike riding. My introduction had been the Iron Cross, a 60 mile offroad oddessy in Pennsylvania with 10,000 feet of climbing. It took 5.5 hours for me on Joe's Bontrager Mountain Bike. Typical unto his style, he was into building frankenbikes out of ebay scores and parts he had in the bin. At the time he had an Empella. I'm not against that (or Empellas) by any means (please no controversy) but I had no mountain bike so I didn't really have this vast bin to draw from, and I didn't really know s#@% from shinolah when it came to that sort of thing. So I went to the shop I was friendly with at the time, College Park Bikes, and bought that rig. It is the one with the blue graphics and Shimano 105 Brifters, Avid Shorty 4 brakes and Bontrager Select parts.

Right away there were some bad parts spec to fix. It had a Bontrager Select crankset with 53/39 rings. WTF effington the third? 53 chainring on a cross bike? Not usable at all. And cross was so hot at the time that you couldn't put your hand to a 130mm 40-something tooth ring to save your life. Finally we found some Salsa rings, and I stuck a 48/38 on there. I got rid of the 12-25 or whatever 9 speed cassette it came with in favor of a 12-27 Ultegra. I think that that pretty much did it for me for a year. I did Reston and a couple of other cross races and had some fun.

The next year out on the road I bought a compact crankset, an FSA. I used it for half a season or so on the road, then bought a new complete bike on ebay, a Calfee Dragonfly, which had 10 speed record on it. So the bike that had the crank; I tore it apart and put the compact on the cross bike. I got 46/36 Race Face MTB rings for it and sold the Salsas for a profit. Ebay is stupid. Somewhere in there I took apart the bar-top lever and stripped a bolt putting it back on so those got replaced with some Tektros. I built up some race wheels which I just sold to Bryan Butts a couple months ago. I did a few more races but got kind of disgusted when some dweeb crashed me up in Hagerstown. I bashed my shin so hard I couldn't move for like 3 minutes. He got back up and won the race. I was stomping that day and I would have ripped him apart. I'm still ticked about that, but that's racing. It was just a C race anyway, what am I gonna do, crow about that from the rooftops? Still, a bit frustrating you have to admit.

The former road bike (a Flyte/Airborne Manhattan Project) was further stripped and the frame sold, so it's Chris King headset became part of the cross rig, replacing a Cane Creek. I bought a lot of stems on ebay and a new school Salsa Moto Ace replaced the Bontrager Select. Looks like hell but fits nice. Likewise, the Ultegra brifters from that bike replaced the 105 stuff that was on there. But I never did love that stuff, so I dreamt of Campy.

The dreams got better and better when Steve DonTigney sold me a pair of 32H/Open Pro/Record hubs wheels last December. Those wheels would suit that bike so well, I thought. But sticker shock kept me away. Finally, joyously, I made my the elite team of my club, Evolution. That brings with it a healthy discount at the LBS (local bike shop), The Bike Lane in Burke. So I dropped the money on some Campy Centaur brake/shifters, and a front and rear mechanism. I've got a Chorus cassette on those wheels, for a 13-26. That gives me some righteous mid-range gears. I've got a 16, I've got a 17, I've got an 18 and 19. What else could you ask for? I mean it just kicks tail. I can't wait to get it out there tomorrow towing my son to his day care and then off to work for me.

AND, I got a Light and Motion ARC light. The thing is like running a car headlight. It is that pure white beam that you see on newer cars, especially German ones. It throws a crazy bright beam hundreds of feet. Cars waiting to turn left in front of you think you're a motorcycle or a car with only one headlight or something and they ALWAYS wait. Stunning.

I am so ready for the night time bike commuting season and that just makes my day. It is like going from being a mouse to a lion. Instead of meekly passing through the night, hoping not to get stepped on, I'm roaring around, clearing a path. It is so inspiring and makes me want to keep riding. Bike Lane has them in stock...so worth it.

I'll get some pictures of the rig and put it up soon. It has a blackburn rack on it now too. Couple that with an Ortleib pannier and I don't have to put up with any junk on my back. I know that lots of people will probably be like "Aw man you should race that thing not put a rack on it," but I have to do what I'm called to do. Respect to the cross racers though. Respect.

So the only original parts left on the bike are the 48cm Ritchey cross bar and the Avid brakes. And believe me, those brakes aren't long for this world. The bike currently shares a saddle and seatpost with my fixie, it is a Dean Ti with a Specialized Toupe. Oh, and the bottom bracket is, I believe, a Race Face signature ti, which they don't make any more. So you can see why Joe Kotun was into the frankenbike thing. That is what I ended up with anyway!

I tell you, I feel like a friggin king riding this bike with its weird mix of parts. And by the way the Campy C-10 chain works just great with the Race Pace 9 speed chainrings. It is the older 6.1 mm chain, as compared to the new Campy chains that are 5.9mm (which is what Shimano has been using for awhile).

And BTW I don't have anything in particular against Shimano, but all my other stuff is Campy so it just feels normal for it to all work the same.

ISO: Uncontroversial Blogging

2006-10-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

Lately every post I've made has been riddled with controversy. Am I wrong about what happened to cause a crash in a race? Am I a fool for riding in a thunderstorm? Was Andy Kaufman wrong to sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall? Were people wrong to watch? So I'm going to write about some hopefully non controversial stuff for awhile. People will have to be the judge of how that goes.

A 6.9 on the Toadstrangler Scale

2006-09-28T19:06:00.001-07:00

So I had this great window open today. My wife got sick and stayed home. Therefore I didn't have to pick my son up from day care. Thus I could ride all the way to and from work. Her loss, my gain. She just was tired and had a cold, nothing to mourn over. Our cats got lots of lap time and she feels better.

Not much of a story here except that there was rain in the forecast. Possible thunderstorms. You hear that a lot around here. Last June it was for real. Man cats and dogs ain't the half of it. It POURED. Haven't really seen that kind of downpour since. Thank goodness. Well today we are riding home just after the trail junction near East Falls Church and it starts to storm. So as we ride along I dig my jacket out of my pack and put it on. By the time I got it on it stopped. So we get to Lee hwy about five minutes later and I take it off, and put on my Ricky Rudd hat. I went to a NASCAR Busch series race like 7 years ago and I bought a hat to fit in. It has this really long duck-bill brim and it rocks for riding in the rain. Plus I dig the confused looks I get from people because it clashes with my kit real bad. Real splashy letters across the front, in yellow: RICKY. Or RICKEY, don't know about that E. Anyway.

Then it starts into full on Toadstrangler, thunderstorm mode from H. E. double toothpicks. Real loud thunder. Real splashy lightning. It almost seems to make the sky flash red it is so close.

One of my friends starts getting nervous, as he is riding an aluminum bike. He doesn't want to get hit by lightning. So is the other, also on aluminum, in fact. But I'm on carbon, since there is no wagon pulling on my agenda. No lightning magnet beneath me. I smirk and tell this dumb joke: These two guys are camping when they are awakened by the enraged roar of a crazed grizzley bear. One stumbles out of the tent slightly and shines his flashlight upon it, revealing blood dripping from it's claw. Evidently they are about to become desert. Dude with the flashlight looks at his camp-mate, who sits there calmly but rapidly putting on a pair of shoes. "You're not going to outrun that bear, why are you putting on your shoes?" His buddy says: "I don't have to outrun the bear, I just have to outrun you!"

One buddy is so worried he actually pulls up and decides to wait it out under some shelter, but we other two press on. The rain starts hitting us so hard it stings. It gets really dark. What a treat, I love the thunder storms we get here. So epic.

Then my wife treats me to a home-made pizza with turkey and spinach and feta and onions and it was so great. She saw it on the food channel and had to try making it and she did great. And I weighed in and I lost four pounds. Good day!

Also I found this (warning not work safe - contains one utterance of the F word) on the internet, clever:

Floyd Landis Raps

His debut single "Bikin' Dirty." Be careful, it will get stuck in your head.

And there is this

great post on Racing Union's blog

There is this ad featuring this guy, who was a rocking six-day track racer in his day, who was whoring himself out for a cigarette sponsor. Don' forget to check out the comments.

The Great Debate Over The Crash

2006-09-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

So since my post about the crash at Turkey Day was questioned on the local listserve, I've done a lot of asking around about the crash and I think I've come up with a consensus so I'm going to talk about that now.

Lots of times if you are leading the pack in a bike race, you are willing to take a pull but you don't want to sit on the front for the rest of your natural life. So you pull off to one side. But sometimes if you are sitting second wheel in a bike race, you don't want to pull through and put yourself into the wind. So when the guy swings off you just follow him. So sometimes he swings wayyyyyy over to one side to try and shake the second wheel. Heck sometimes first wheel will even brake to force second wheel to overshoot a la a fighter pilot move. When these guys start snaking often times then the whole pack follows these two souls.

Now sometimes if you are not having a great race, and you're kind of a bit farther back than you want to be and there are just a few laps to go, you decide to take a calculated risk to move up and get yourself into position for the sprint. So you come up the inside, the place between the edge of the pack and the near curb. Now maybe you've done this before in the very same bike race even in the very same spot and it was no problemo. So maybe the momentum at the front of the pack is stalling a bit and you see some daylight on that inside and there you go. I've done this a bunch of times in my racing career. Usually it will either work and you move up (yay-whee!) or you get shut down and go nowhere (ohhhh darn!). But while it can be nerve racking it is has never had a catastrophic outcome for me, and I don't think I've ever even seen anybody stack it this way. But what can happen is the pack starts switching/snaking right just you make this move into already thin air, and then, Houston, we have a problem.

Now sometimes if you are down the line a bit but still up near the front, you can see this situation is developing, and you know some opportunist is going to take is gutter ball shot. So you jump in and plug the hole before he can pass. This is a defensive tactic on two fronts. One, you keep people from moving up and passing you holding your position, and two you keep them from putting you in position to bump and possibly crash. (Or as my son says 'bump' and 'nonny'.) If you are doing this responsibly you look back to make sure nobody is there yet when you move over. But what if you're in a double file and the pack starts snaking, you have to move over, you're on the inside, and somebody's gutter ball is rolling real real fast between you and the curb, and you've gotta have that space yourself or you're going down?

So this kind of gives you the type of situation as I understand it at Turkey Day. I'm not 100% sure about how things transpired from there but that gives you the basic idea in a general sense. And somewhere along those lines with the moving up going on on one hand, and the switching on the other there was a touch and ka-blamo, John Hebner went down, then Tim Lung went over top of Hebner's bike and went down, and so did about a half dozen other fellas. Mr. Hebner was very unfortunately seriously injured, breaking a collarbone severely, and three ribs. So that is a total, total bummer. He has three kids and I'm sure it is not fun to be in that situation to say the least. I've spent six wheels in a wheelchair followed by six weeks on crutches, and had one other very long period of convalescence involving almost four months on crutches, so nobody has to tell me what that kind of situation is like. BTW the wheelchair gig came from a car crash, and the long crutch time was from a bike wreck, solo, but involving a car.

I'm sure we can all draw some conclusions on this race situation, defintely in a general sense and possibly in a particular sense. Personally, I'm not into trying to pass judgment on anybody because it isn't my job, and I had a distant vantage point at best, just enough to see the pack switching. Some others are trying to place blame. Still others will simply say "That's racing." But I hope the primary lesson will be that almost all of us do not earn our living at this, and even if we do, we have to stay injury free in order to train, and we must train in order to be at our best. Therefore it is incumbent upon us all to consider safety to be the most important consideration when riding our bikes, while we are racing or training, and I hope that is something we can all meditate on, as Sting said, 'How fragile we are.'

Turkey Day

2006-09-21T10:49:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Kevin Dillard for taking that photo. (www.velophotos.net)

I didn't particularly 'enjoy' the Turkey Day races this year, but I had some fun. That is I wasn't fit and flying like last year. But, like last year I rode my disc. Last year I rode it for tactical reasons, this year 'cause my rear 404 was flat. I rode up behind Bo Lee and he says. "Is that you back there Mark?" "Yes, it's me."

Regarding the crash in the Master's race, I'm really glad I decided I wasn't going to contest the sprint in the race, so I dropped out right before it happened. I had been unimpressed on the previous lap by a certain rider in blue and white (NOT JAMES BELLORA, who despite his sharp tongue, rides pretty safely from what I've seen) who was bouncing off other riders for no discerable reason. Near the back of the pack, it makes no sense to fight for wheels. Don't know if it was the same guy, but the next lap a guy from that same team tried to go up the inside near the start finish. The pack hooked to the left for some reason and he evidently got squeezed there in between the curb and Dave Osbourne and went down. A bunch of other people including one of my teammates went down too. The first guy, who I don't know, suffered a badly broken collarbone and three broken ribs. I don't know if he was the guy who precipitated the crash, but I do know that moving up on the inside there, when there were tons of other places to pass on that course, was a dangerous move. Before you make some kind of move like that, please think about whether doing so is even necessary. With three laps to go, there would have been lots of other opportunities to pass, and taking a big chance that resulted in 10 guys crashing was a poor choice.

In preparation 'for to' drop in a bigger engine into the Compartment

2006-09-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

So I've pretty much had a light summer as far as riding goes. No results in August at all, and only a couple races. Only one result in July. Am I losing my touch? I hope not, all part of the plan my friend. Last season I rolled it until the wheels came off, winning money in races held in October ($80 bucks bro - not bad) and entering the winter as a total wasted wreck. Toasted adrenal glads, limping around on a gimpy leg, just totally trashed. By then most people have had their rest period and are starting to do some long rides to get ready for the next year. This didn't really work out for me and I think it really messed up my season to a point. I sort of recovered, kept up with my riding to work through the winter a lot gig, and came out banging and blazing in April and May, blasted away a little in June, but then totally flamed out with my crash at Reston. Hurt my shoulder and was just all tired, put on five pounds and just never really got back into Bunny Hop/Poolesville weekend shape. I really attribute this to a lack of rest and that crash was just sort of the manifestation of everything else that was wrong.

But this year I will end the season really fresh. I'll do Turkey Day on the 17th and send in my upgrade the next day, and spend the winter as a cat 2, contemplating myself as a member of Evolution Cycling's elite squad. So the first thing I have to do is get good enough to go training with those guys. Here is plan A:

I am riding with my son in the 'bike wagon'. He totally loves it. It takes me 1/2 an hour or so to ride to or from his day care with him in tow. Then it takes me about an hour to ride to or from work. A friend of mine has a 'pain train' that tops mine.

When I do one of these toddler commutes my left leg at the hip hurts a lot with stiffness for about a day, so that limits me to about three times a week, plus a ride on the weekend. But I think if I can keep this up for the next six weeks or so, that will set me up well to be ready for the 'training season.' It is work, but we have a lot of fun too. If you have a kid, you owe it to yourself to do it. He giggles like crazy when we roll out and makes helpful comments like 'bump' and 'big car.'

See you at Turkey Day (Bobby Phillips annual race on the 17th of September).

Breakage/Flattage

2006-08-21T06:20:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I flatted before the race started. So I guess riding around the venue on my race wheels before the race is a bad idea.

Fortunately I brought a spare wheel (race wheels are tubulars). Unfortunately my spare race wheel was an agressive build and about two years old. The course was rather rough and at some point I spoke pulled through one of the rim eyelets, causing the wheel to rub the brake. It wasn't a huge thing where I noticed it as I was just concentrating on the race but it was having an effect, three spins around and the wheel stops if you spin it by hand.

I wasn't on a good day on a tough course so I don't think absent that I would have placed well but I'd like to think I may have finished instead of being pulled with 6 to go in a race with about 35 laps. The course was a tough hill crit and technical. There was a longish big ring climb after a slow tight turn so that was great training anyway...

Gold star of the day goes to Evo rider David Duke for finishing the 30+ and cat 3/4 races, I'm not sure anybody else did that. Most people I know got blown away in the 30+, which was won by Josh Frick of DC Velo, with Evo's Dave Fuentes second. It looked like Frick pulled one of his last lap on the backside flyers to get a gap into the final turn and hold off Fuentes. Craig Clark had a win in the 50+ all but sewn up when a DC Velo guy bumped him in the last turn and took him down, so the other DC Velo guy in the break won. Hmmmmm....

Tattoo Man wins Amateur Natz

2006-08-21T05:56:00.000-07:00

As one of the visibly tattooed members of the peloton I thought it worth posting this link:

here. This guy is totally covered as far as you can tell from the pix. Nice.

Jens Voight is the Man!

2006-08-03T07:57:00.000-07:00

Jens Voight won the 2nd stage of the Tour of Germany with incredible will. Two 2nd Category climbs in the finale. He goes clear over the first climb, ends up in a group of eight men. They are brought back before the final climb. There is a descent into a town where the stage finishes after the 2nd and final climb. He goes clear again on that climb, with past-master at the classics David Rebellin and Kazak Andre Kashechkin. Rebellin starts missing turns as they come into the last four kilometers, trying to save his legs for the sprint. Meanwhile the bunch is chasing hard. Zabel is there, desperate for a win. They come under the kilometer kite with a 10 - 15 second lead. Rebellin keeps skipping turns. I start to get worried for Voight, a rider I like very much. Amazing that that he attacked again, many riders would have given up after being brought back after going away over the first climb. Now he has a classic winner sucking his wheel. Surely he is doomed? With four or five hundred metes to go he looks back and sees the bunch on his heels. He surges and they lose Kashekin. The bunch is now at five seconds. There is a corner at 150M to go over a slight rise. Does he sit there and wait so as not to let Rebellin the advantage by draft him, but allow the bunch to catch up? No way dude, he doesn't want to risk getting caught on the line and he isn't afraid of Rebellin. He should be right, Rebellin won a triple a in 2004, taking the Liege-Bastogne-Liege, Fleche Wallonne, and Amstel Gold raaces over 8 days. But Voight's motto, when in doubt, attack! So Voight jumps hard for the corner; he gaps Rebellin initially, but Rebellin claws his way back up to Voight as they take the corner, but they take it so fast, Rebellin slides out as his inside-outside line threatened to put him into the barriers, and he almost lost his back wheel from underneath him. Voight doesn't see this, but sprints out of the corner hard, zig-zagging across the road. Rebellin was set up well to pass Voight and may well have taken the stage from him but for the narrow road, but Voight's aggressiveness played to his advantage yet again! What a great rider!

Tour of Germany - heads up!

2006-08-02T06:11:00.000-07:00

Hey for everybody who bemoans this whole FLANDIS debacle, here is something to take your mind off it. The Tour of Germany. This is a really good race with some monster climbs and a good field. Vino is back seeking redemption. Levi will try and defend his title. Gusev just showed his talent by winning the prologue for Discovery. Check the links at the right or pony up for a subscription to cycling dot tv.

Who is the Top Ranked Cat 3 Criterium Rider in Virginia?

2006-07-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Forgive me for this vain entry. But somebody was telling me they saw I was leading some something or other. I couldnt' think of anything but I got curious so I checked the cat 3 criterium rankings on www.usacycling.org and I was pleased to see that I topped the list. And I know being the best cat 3 is like, so penultimate. I know they use some arcane formula and not all the results get reported so the thing is imperfect. But it still rocks for me to see my name next to number 1. I don't even know how the rankings work exactly...there is a FAQ but it doesn't reveal much. I think they calculate your age, factor in the field size, divide by pie, get out the slide rule, and see who can kick ass...
no wonder I'm on top 8-)

Rank Points Name License Hometown
1 1182 Mark Kerlin 54291 Oakton, VA
2 1185 Curtis Winsor 187500 Round Hill, VA
3 1206 Bo Lee 20700 Annandale, VA
4 1215 Fredrik Andersson 216108 Arlington, VA
5 1233 Stephen Robinson 30220 Arlington, VA
6 1246 Ryan Vaart 141347 Arlington, VA
7 1271 Justin Koelbl 202085 Fairfax Sta, VA
8 1272 Wade Jennings 206885 Springfield, VA
9 1279 Bill Gros 51036 Leesburg, VA
10 1294 Phillip Robb 201287 Suffolk, VA
11 1309 Stephen Koelbl 202086 Fairfax Sta, VA
12 1310 Tim Scesney 204508 Arlington, VA
13 1347 Stephen De Lisle 203973 Gloucester, VA
14 1348 Steven Grant 204726 Arlington, VA
15 1351 William Davis 212269 Arlington, VA
16 1375 William Malone 47734 Mechanicsville, VA
17 1397 Michael Rovezzi 205537 Sterling, VA
18 1399 Zack Allison 211435 Arlington, VA
19 1401 Michael Krotine 68818 Alexandria, VA
20 1408 Matt Carlton 226077 Richmond, VA
21 1412 Michael Bradbury 187717 Ashburn, VA
22 1414 Grant Patterson 228847 Harrisonburg, VA
23 1419 Andy McKeegan 230319 Harrisonburg, VA
24 1426 Bradley Evans 130647 Dulles, VA
24 1426 Kenneth Young 233138 Woodbridge, VA
26 1428 Tony Moreno 205242 Arlington, VA
27 1436 Ethan Ensley 198637 Chesapeake, VA
28 1437 Peter Lindeman 147939 Arlington, VA
28 1437 David Rollinson 221787 Clifton Forge, VA
30 1444 Christopher Wiedmaier 195839 Vienna, VA
31 1448 Ted Michaels 206649 Arlington, VA
32 1451 David Goodwin 68486 Blacksburg, VA
33 1452 Justin Samuel 207765 Alexandria, VA
34 1468 Jonathan Sheffield 199321 Charlottesville, VA
35 1472 Paul Beyer 233617 Oak Hill, VA
36 1478 Constantinos Tombras 70009 Arlington, VA
37 1481 Victor Siegfried 185280 Reston, VA
38 1488 Mitch Ferro 178804 South Riding, VA
39 1490 Peter Whitlock 222833 Reedville, VA
40 1491 James Bellora 132954 Falls Church, VA

Look out, I'm training

2006-07-30T16:23:00.001-07:00

So my disappointing 5th place at Hagerstown in a course that was tailor made for me and my total destucto-explodo-el slow-o performance at Coppi are about to be reversed, well in awhile anyway. I've been training.

You see, mostly my deal is that I commute in the cold all winter, do a couple weeks of intervals, and then start flying. As the season progresses, I mostly just race, and do a few rides during the week just to keep it going, maybe try to tailor some efforts to the coming race. But my fitness tends to decline and decline. I start to get tired. Then I pretty much don't train much at all, and then my fitness starts to really go. Eventually I'm forced to rest, but I'll still probably line up, and sometimes, like at Hagerstown, I'll even eek out a decent result. But eventually it is just time to start over. So, having gotten a decent amount of rest over the last month, last week I did about 9 solid hours of commuting, about half of it on the fixed gear (48x17 seems to suit me). BTW I got a Specialized Toupe to go on that bike and it is great. I hardly ever stand up on that bike and it really helps the blood flow. On the other hand, it has zilch padding, so your sit-bones do start to feel it after awhile. It weighs a feather, 155 grams, so you've got to love that.

Then on Saturday I did on of my absolute favorite things in life that doesn't involve, well, you know. I did the Lanterne Rouge ride out of Arlington. I rode out there, happily encountering my teammate Joel Christie along the way, and he came along. So we ride out there, do the 60 mile loop with those dudes, and I stop for coffee (ice-ice-baby) and roll home. About 90 miles altogether, with lots of hills. I took the two unofficial yet contested primes and led out the boys for two or three of the hill primes that I can't possibly win at this point. Killer ride if you want to find out about it go to www the caboose dot org. I'll probably do that a few more times this month, and keep the four times a week fixed gear commute going. I have the district track championship in my sights, wanting to defend my state title in the pursuit, perhaps defend the points race title, and see if I can help one or other of my teammates who may stand a better chance than I to bring home a MABRA jersey (namely, Nigel or Todd). Depends on if I do 30+ or Senior Open, last year I did Senior open, because the field looked easier. Anyway, good to have gotten back on the fixed gear this week, and I enjoyed every one of those 90 miles, and didn't even feel that bad today.

My Rant on Floyd Landis

2006-07-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

So I've been wasting a whole frickin' ton of time following this Floyd Landis drug scandal thing. I multi-task at work on www.bikeforums.net, trying to keep up on all the gossip. So let me spread the rumor - the rumor is that his T/E ratio in the A test was 11-1. So if you were hoping he could say it was the Jack and beer, uh, no, that isn't going to fly any better than me in Reston in turn five, in the rain this year.

There is this one cat there who posts as "EURO" and he is a Floyd hater from the get go. Finding out that Floyd's A test came back positive was like somebody asking him if he wants fries with that. I mean, it was like Christmas morning for him. He had been trying to argue that the only way Floyd could have made that move work was becuase 'they let him go.' Whatever. Of course the let him go, they were sure he would crack, and they needed to isolate Oscar Pereiro, so they left his team on the front. Floyd himself said that he counted on them being 'disorganized'. Kloden was evidently really bad that day so he didn't want his team to set tempo (like they did on stage 11, when all the T-mobiles were dropped) only to see him lose out at the end. CSC had two Americans of the six left in the race, one of them the roommate of Landis. Those guys had, just two days before, killed everybody on Alpe d'Huez, so they didn't have a lot of matches to burn. In the end only Jens Voight could really do much to chase. Vandevelde did a bit of work too, I think. EURO said that two of those climbs were big ringers and that if those guys had given chase there, they could have limited the damage. In the end, the argument falls flat with the counterpoint that if they had worked so hard early, then they would have been hating life on the Joux Plane, and lost a lot more than 2 mintes to Sastre, and even more to FLANDIS.

Anyway getting back to the whole doper stuff. Did you check Larry King live? If you dig around cycling news dot com there is a transcript of the interview. In addition to sounding like a very well paid dufus, Larry King, um, sat there and asked questions that someone wrote down for him. Floyd seemed to struggle a bit with his tone. He was clearly trying to sound optomistic, but that is hard to do at 3AM local European time, especially when WADA is tugging on your favorite yellow shirt. Call me naive, but I believe FLANDIS. First of all the guy clearly eats and breathes two wheels, it's just his aura. Second, the numbers on his powertap were reachable, and his has reportedly done those number for eight hours in training, that he pulled for five hours in the race, so what's the big deal? Not like he needed dope to do that in an absolute sense. Lets take a page out of my own life shall we? At Poolesville this year I was suffering like a dog on the climby parts, but killing it on the dirt, and rode 3 guys off my wheel bridging to the break. One of my absolute favorite moments on the bike in my whole life, that bridge. But then I fell apart, started cramping, had zilch power on the last climb and got dropped, and came in 13th. I was dehydrated, that was all. I drank like 64 ounces of gatorade, came back the next day and for a field sprint, walked away with the race at Bunny Hop. So nobody says you can't have a great day after a disappointing day. As Floyd's mom said, that is part of the message of Jesus, taking disappointment and turning it to joy. Maybe you don't need Jesus to see that, but anyway, I'm just putting that out there, take it or leave it. If you don't give up, but keep fighting, there is happiness to be grasped.

Kind of got off on a tangent there...so we have 1)the guy is a killer, 2)it is natural to rise from the dead, you don't need drugs to do it, just faith, whether it is in God or just in yourself. 3) Testosterone wouldn't have been the drug of choice for that ride anyway. I'm holding out hope that there is some reason why his epitestosterone (the E in the T/E ratio) was low, and that his testosterone was just normal. And also, hopefully the Carbon Isotope Test will prove that he didn't take any synthetic testosterone.

I believe Floyd, just like I believed Tyler until it because clear that he was probably lying. That probably says more about me than it says about this situation. Whether or not he turns out to have cheated, that Stage 17 ride was inspirational, and I hope it doesn't become tainted. We shall see. In the meantime I will respect FLANDIS's wishes not to judge him until he has a chance to defend himself.

Landis Aside, Did Americans Fail at the Tour de France?

2006-07-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

With the Tour win of Landis in doubt due to a positive drug test, some have said this tour was then a failure for American Cycling. Is that true?

Chris Horner did well supporting Robbie McEwen, as did Fred Rodriguez until his crash. Neither one of them was expected to do more than be a domestique. You saw Horner covering breaks for McEwen on the final stage. Expectations were very high for Levi Leipheimer, and in that context he disappointed, but he was runner up on a high mountain stage and was the most aggressive rider who featured in a break near the end of Le Tour. Obviously his GC (Yellow Jersery Classification) was a disaster compared to previous years. It was a mistake to expect George Hincapie to turn French Cols into Belgian Bergs. Some years, we would have been happy just to have him in Yellow for a stage. He has been chasing that for a long time and in the context of his career that was good. If he had bothered to shift down in the last 300 meters of the prolouge he would have had a stage win. Instead he lugged his gear and lost by under a second to an energized Thor Hushvod. Christian Vandevelde rode his best tour ever, looking like a totally different rider, back out from under some nagging injuries. Third on a stage and a provider of great support to Carlos Sastre, and 24th on GC, he helped Team CSC to a high team GC placing, and they nearly won that competition, falling out in Stage 17. He was the third best placed American in 24th. On first look Dave Z's tour was a failure. He performed below expectations in both long time trials (he didn't win - but I think he was top ten in both) and failed to win the prologue. However, he did finish third place there. However, he rode a great Giro and Dauphine (with stage wins there) and it isn't a surprise he seemed tired. But he also made two breaks. One that he made along with Jens Voight provided us with arguably the most tactically dominating performce of the Tour, where CSC had two riders hammering in the break on the road to L'Alpe D'Huez to give it a sustainable lead, while their intended stage winner sat in the break and didn't pull. Frank Schlenk didn't disappoint his mates and broght it home over Cunego. With just a 1:10 second advantge over the chasers, Zabriske made a critical differnce in helping his teammate win the most prestigious stage of the Tour. Zabriske worked hard on his climbing and it showed as he did well there when it counted.

At the moment I set aside any commentary about Landis. I will say that dope or no dope, his ride on stage 17 was inspiring and unforgettable.

So, while it wasn't as rousing a sucess as many expected, that says much more about people's expectations than it does about the quality of the riding done by the Americans at this year's Le Tour.

Counterpoint: The brillantly executed fumble

2006-07-17T10:25:00.000-07:00

Check this link out: http://www.dailypeloton.com/displayarticle.asp?pk=9784

Bobby Julich Criticizes Phonak

2006-07-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

Check out this URL: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/tdf2006/news/story?id=2520455

My response:

It is interesting to see Bobby's comments about this tactic. OLN's commentators have likewise been critical. I hadn't thought about what the other teams would think about this, so much as I thought "Oh, well OP's team will have to defend it now."

I understand though, Floyd and Phonak are a bit tentative and want to err on the side of caution. Whether this is true weakness or not is what matters most, and that we shall see tomorrow and the day after.

One thing I disagree about about is the "letting back into the race" of OP and YP. These are strong guys for sure and now they will try harder. We all know that cycling is a mental game like tennis or golf, as well as a physical game, and these guys will have more motivation now. But cycling is also about gravity, not just psychology, as Kim Andersen said recently. These guys have already shown that gravity is heavier for them then for Floyd right now. I think the only riders he is truly threatened by are Dennis Menchov and Cadel Evans.

2006-07-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

My teammate Chris Wiles asks:
I wanted to get your take on Michael Boogerd's
tactics (in stage 11). It seemed to me that after he was done
pacing the lead group up the final climb, he should
have ridden behind Kloden and rode his wheel all the
way to the line, rather than continue to be a "rabbit"
motivating Kloden up the climb. Of course this is a
simplistic view of the situation, not knowing a whole
lot of factors, but what do you think?

My first reaction to what you mentioned is that think the last person
Denis Menchov is worried about is Andreas Kloden. And that is what
Boogerd would have probably been thinking about. Primarliy though, I
think they were interested in that stage win. So, Boogerd had done his
job to weed out that group and then he just needed to get to the line.
But maybe I'm being to simple-minded, so let's investigate.

Checking the time trial result, it shows that Menchov and Kloden
finished on same time. So, as long as Menchov can out climb Kloden,
they're not worried about him too much. As things worked out, in
hindsight, Boogered put about thirty seconds into Kloden by the line.
So he got pretty far away in the end. But for awhile there, he sure
did dangle right out in front of him.

You do raise a really great 'by the book' point about tactics. Under
those circumstances you shouldn't do that - be a carrot. But I think
that Boogered felt like since he had dropped Kloden once already by
riding tempo, once he had recovered a bit, that he would drop him
again. While it is important to follow rules, there are niceties, and
I will discuss them further below.

The carrot thing tends to play itself out a lot more in medium
difficulty road races or in your weekly local criteriums. A break will
go and get established. Then there will be a counter-attack that goes
clear of the pack. The pack will go ape chasing the counter-attack.
Once the counter comes back everybody except the break sits up and
then the break rides away. Classic carrot example. The only prayer
you've got there is to be in the counter, and drop it bridging to the
break.

BUT, where there are clear, non-tactical splits that happen based
solely on strength, like in a Tour mountain stage, I don't think it is
such a big deal though to risk being a carrot, so I wouldn't fault
Boogered, except for having a mouthful of teeth. No drafting is going
on. He had a little gap that he worked and made bigger.

I have seen some real doosey carrot moves though. Once, a teammate,
we'll call him "Yogi" went off in a break. Nice move. Then another
teammate tried to bridge across, we'll call him "Carrot Top". Carrot
Top got about halfway across to the break, and of course everybody in
the pack wanted to play too. By the time Carrot Top got across to the
break, he had dragged the whole pack with him. This is when being a
Carrot equals chasing down your own teammate. Please don't do that,
especially if it is me up there! Since Boogered not only didn't bring
Klooden up to Menchov, but eventually dropped him, he's ok in my
'book'.

BAR Standings Totally Current to Date

2006-07-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

1 190 Evan Fader Rt 1 Velo/Capitol Hill Bikes
2 181 Frederik Andersson NCVC/Inova Health System
3 176 Bo Lee WWVC/10-8 Duty Gear Cycling
4 168 Wade Jennings NCVC/Inova Health System
5 154 John Raley Artemis
6 126 Mark Kerlin Evolution/Team DLS
7 96 Curtis Winsor ABRT/Team Snow Valley
8 95 Mike Esmonde Rt 1 Velo/Capitol Hill Bikes
9 86 Nathan Coleman Johns Hopkins
10 60 Nick Bax Hot Tubes Development Team

So Evan and Nick have upgraded. Curtis is a junior and Nathan is a college kid. So the only guy after me worth talking about is Mike Esmonde. Frederik has a couple road races and a time trial going for him, there is only like one crit left and I'll probably win that again, but it only worth 15 points. So I am going to have to kick butt next weekend and then at the MABRA Road Race in order to pull back some points on these dudes. I'll give it my best. John will probably skip the tt, hopefully I can get some points there. Wade and Fred seem a bit burned out. Bo just got 11th at nationals so he is riding really well, we'll see how he can do at the RR&TT. At least I have my position dialed in on my tt bike, going to take it out tomrrow.

Whatever happens I'm pleased to have ridden well this year. I'm sure I've clinched a top ten in the BAR for sure, still have a great chance to finish top five.

Good ride in Hagerstown

2006-07-08T15:27:00.000-07:00

Results something like this:
1. Bo Lee
2. John Raley
3 ?
4 Joe Jefferson
5 Yours Truly
6 Snow Valley Junior
7 ?
8 Wade somewhere around there
9 ?
10?
11 Steve Jones

So Fredrik didn't really score many points so that opens the BAR up for John and Bo who took a lot of points today. I took a good bit of points back on Fred and a few back on Wade so that helps me, although Bo and John are running away from me now. Hopefully the break I took will help me as the season wears on. However the next two races are big points and if Fredrik is riding well he is going to be tough to beat. His wife just had a baby so that could help or hurt him, you never know.

It was a field sprint - I was a little far near the front like fifth out of the 2nd turn. So no one was leading it out really and I had to walk that line between going too soon and going too late. Probably considering the form I had I did my best race. I timed it too late, got swarmed around, but passed about 6 people in the last 150 - 200 meters so perhaps waiting was a better idea for me today. Bo and John were head and shoulders above the rest and I was closing hard on 3rd place but ran out of real estate.

Mitch and Mike rode well today. Mike rode the best I've seen him do in a crit, and Mitch was looking alright too. It seemed like we really rode like a team, too, so I'm very happy for that.

After the race they handed out some cold water in little 12 ounce bottles. I squirted some on Steve Jones's face as I was cooling down and we all had a good laugh. Snicker :).

Where's Floyd?

2006-07-01T07:36:00.003-07:00

We all know the game where's Waldo? Well, Where's Floyd Landis? Shades of the 1989 Tour de France and Pedro Delgado. That was the first year I ever watched Le Tour and as the final starter was scheduled to appear in the starthouse, the time went, and no Yellow Jersey. About TWO MINUTES AND FORTY SECONDS passed before Delgado appeared. Now today, Floyd only lost about eight seconds in the start house. But, that was, in that same year 1989, the margin of victory between Laurent Fignon and Greg Lemond. So, you never know what the significance of those seconds could be. Probably it won't matter over the 2000 mile plus race, but you never know. One thing is sure it cost him the stage win and the yellow jersey, as he finished about nine seconds behind the winner, the surprising Thor Hushvod of Norway.

David Zabriske, who was third in this race, once interviewed Thor Hushvod. The text of the interview follows: Dave Z: "Thor, do you mind if I ask you a one question interview" Thor: "No." Dave Z "Did you know that you have the coolest name in the Peloton?" Thor: "No." Dave Z: "You do." Thor: "Ok."

George Hincapie was the runner up, just .73 seconds behind Thor. So the Americans take a blow from Thor's Hammer and will have more room in their closets at home, without that souvenier Yellow Jersey. Levi was about 20 seconds back near most of the favorites. Bobby Julich and Chris Horner were back in that neck of the woods as well.

Good stage for Thor, going for the Green Jersey, he took out some points today. He isn't going to win very many sprints against guys like Boonen and McEwen, so he needs to do stuff like this, be consistent and take points when he can. It makes you wonder if George will try to steal the Yellow with a time bounus sprint? But I doubt it, he's going for bigger fish this year, the final Yellow Jersey.

When's that Tour de France thing?

2006-06-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-06-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-21T07:21:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-18T19:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-18T19:29:00.000-07:00

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!

2006-06-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

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?

2006-06-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-11T04:50:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-10T14:52:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-09T09:54:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-04T13:14:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-03T07:29:00.000-07:00

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!

MSR Humor Turns Sour: Cute Dorks Become Lame Geeks: A Thin Line is crossed

2006-05-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

In an example of hubris gone over the line, M Street Racing's Blog has recently turned from gently prodding humor into mean spirited cracks and lame attempts at parody to cover their behavior. M STREET RACING: Editorial: No Blood, No Free Lap.

First they accused NCVC's elite team of straight up cheating at Leonardtown. To hear them tell it, the area's oldest elite squad was roundly shelled, and then used the excuse of a crash to take a free lap and rejoin the pack. But this blogger used his extensive contacts to find out the true story. Everybody knows that Leonardtown is one of the most technical and tough courses around, with bike handling at a premium. So after some fatigue set in, it was no surprise that somebody got a bit unsteady in one of those turns. NCVC's squad, which includes two riders who have been to the Olympic Trials, was run off the road into the woods due to the crash! Now you'd think that would be deserving of a mechanical, wouldn't you?

Well unfortunately the answer from the USCF rulebook is no. Well, it seems like a no. Rule A20:

A mishap is a crash or a mechanical accident (tire puncture or other failure of an essential component). However, a puncture caused by the tire coming off due to inadequate gluing is not a mechanical accident, nor is a malfunction due to mis-assembly or insufficient tightening of any component. A recognized mishap is a stoppage that meets the above conditions. An unrecognized mishap is a stoppage where the above conditions are not met.
A broken toe strap or cleat is a mishap. A worn or misadjusted cleat or toe strap is not a mishap. If more than one toe strap is used on a pedal, breakage of one is considered a mishap. Any mishap not immediately inspected by an official is unrecognized.

Only one thing is left undefined, crash. Now it might seem like a simple thing, we all know what a crash is right? But what if you crash onto a bunch of people but don't hit the actual deck? Is that a crash? What if people run into you and push you off the course, into the woods, is that a crash? Well lets look at the dictionary (dot com) definition of a crash.

To break violently or noisily; smash.
To undergo sudden damage or destruction on impact: Their car crashed into a guardrail. The airplane crashed over the ocean.
To make a sudden loud noise: breakers crashing against the rocks.
To move noisily or so as to cause damage: went crashing through the woods.
To undergo a sudden severe downturn, as a market or economy.

It seems to me that that last definiton leaves a grey area that most officials (wearing black and white) would not see. Although in this case, it seems the zebras could see elephants. Maybe if there are 150 riders then officials need to see some marks or a breakage, but at a small race with 20-25 guys left in the pack, it doesn't seem necessary that blood needs to be in evidence to give somebody a free lap when it is obvious they were caught up in a crash. It is their integrity after all, if they bend the rules, they'll be the ones having to sleep at night (or not). Yes I am arguing for the honor system under certain conditions, and guys like Moglia, Stevenson, Brown and Schmidt have been out there kicking butt since some MSR guys were drinking milk from a bottle, with a nipple on it, and they don't deserve to be subjected to high-handed self-righteous, self-serving criticism. As if any real racer would want to take a rhythym breaking free lap, anyway, like it is some big edge. Team old school, circle the wagons! Furthermore there were officials right there on the scene who declared a free lap warranted by those who claimed it.

Furthermore this kind of punk-driven bruhaha can only rile the sleeping giants that are other D20 powers. MSR is on notice: your reign of terror is about to cease.

The second thing M STREET RACING: M Street Blogger Gets Cocky..Missingis they showed themselves to be truly lame geeks, quoting Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Weird Science. What's next? A declaration of undying love for Molly Ringwald? I know she was hot in Fresh Horses but c'mon.
MSR: just not so cute anymore....

In the Doldrums

2006-05-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

Back in the age of sail, there was a part of the world where ships would get stuck. The trade winds didn't blow consistently in this place. The ships would sit there unable to move. The would throw the day's waste over the side and sit, mired in it, unable to escape what they would normally leave behind. Weeds and other junk would grow on the ship's hull, slowing it down. Today, like so many other nautical phrases, "in the doldrums" is still in use to illustrate a feeling of being stuck.

Well that is just how I feel. Riding pretty well today, but only managing 13th place, I was manifestly in the doldrums. I rode a pretty good race but just couldn't get going when I needed to, and mostly it was my head that was the problem. I refused to ride agressively throughout the race and first I missed a break that stuck, and then I had a chance to bridge across to it but declined, thinking it would be caught, but it wasn't. And that failure to take the initiative saw a swarm of riders pass me with 1.5 laps to go. After that I was hopelessly boxed in and couldn't get out until it was too late. I passed may people in the sprint, but was so far back I came in 13th. That was no money and three BAR points. Evan Fader won again, escaping from the breakaway and soloing in. In case you're keeping track, that is his fourth win in this district this year, and brings his upgrade point talley to 41. After 60 he is eligible for a forced upgrade. I can hardly wait. And I'm not the only one fixin' to call him a sandbagger M STREET RACING: Ok, Evan, enough is enough. Turn yourself (and your kit) in. To us. In the parking lot. Next race.. Buddy John Raley managed to unstick his tongue from his front wheel long enough to sprint in for second place. The field caught the break right on the line but John managed to keep above water and surf the break into the line for a great finish.

The best news of the day was I managed to get 2nd on a 3 place prime. I got to the prime tent and I was suppossed to get 10 innertubes. But they were out or something and I didn't want to go to Mount Washington to pick them up anyway. So I negotiated for a Pedro's Multi-tool. I've been wanting a compact multi-tool for my seatbag and this little number is just the trick, with all the allen keys you need, a screwdriver, plus a chain tool in case the unthinkable (happened to me at least three times) happens and you break your chain while out on a ride (One Regina and two Wipperman chains in case you're wondering). It was a nice sprint I did, though I think I waited a bit to long to jump to win the prime. I need to remember to ride my own race to my strength, whereas here I let the other guy dicate the timing.

I talked to John after the race and he said that after a bad race weekend, the worst in memory last weekend, he only rode his bike once last week, at a training race on Wednesday. With one of my favorite races of the year next weekend, I will probably do the same thing, take it wasy this week, just do a couple hard efforts. Try to get some rest and just dream about winning the 35+ race and finishing the 1/2/3. Hopefully then I'll feel good enough to go up and do the BAR race on Sunday in Northern Maryland (Saturday's CSC/Clarendon Cup is not a BAR race). A win is looking so out of reach now with Evan having 190 points. Last update had me in 6th. Maybe I can recover and do well enough next weekend to get back in the hunt for a top 3 BAR finish and a plaque.

I know I'm better than my last two finishes indicate, something just seems wrong in my head, a bit of burnout. And my body is tired too. Hide the bike for a few days and I'm sure my enthusiasm and verve will return! Vic is also there in the doldrums, and is going to take a bit of time off. Stuart was there too, but seemed to just be chilling in the pack. Now off to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Overall I was just too unwilling to be aggressive, too tentative. I was afraid to overdo it as I felt like my 3rd at Baker Park was a result of just working too hard in the finale. But I think I had the chance to jump across to the break with 2 to go at the top of the hill, but I passed on the chance and it really cost me. Oh, regret. Well, live and learn. Bring the race to them!

Tough Day at the Race

2006-05-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

With the constant flow of races making it feel a bit like work, and the Criterium Championship title on the line, last Sunday's race was really, really tough. I was suppossed to race Saturday, but felt tired and a little down, so I stayed home. The race was a far drive of 2 hours each way and I just wasn't into doing the drive alone, and Holly was getting her hair cut. Now I kind of regret missing it. Lost out on a ton of BAR points, but it wasn't going to be fun for me, and I'm doing this for fun. I have a job....

Sunday the race was one of the hardest I have done within memory. I actually had to fight not to get dropped and I had a hard time passing people, which is usually easy for me. The course is a tight isosceles triangle with a 60 foot evelvation change in one turn and a gradual uphill on the home stretch. I realized it just wasn't such a great course for me, too tight, not fast enough, and the field was going ape since it was championships. I tried to make it into a move that went with 6 (1km) laps to go, but failed, and when I got caught the pack flew past me. I couldn't move up before the end of the race, and my teammate Mike Bradbury dragged me up the line on the last lap, but that big move fried my sprint, and we got shut out behind a line of guys in the penultimate corner. Had to slow down a lot, way too much braking, so that was game over, finished 10th. I'm still like 5th in the BAR but the leader has like 160 points to my 75, so my shot at winning the Cat three BAR isn't looking so good. I'm thinking about upgrading, I dunno, it depends on how I do at Clarendon in 1.5 weeks. One thing is sure, I had my best training ride of the year today, so this hard race has really helped my form. Race in Baltimore this weekend that is a better course for me, techincal yet fast and open in sections, with a good hill, so I hope to bring my A game and win.

If You Are A Good Loser, Then You'll Lose A Lot

2006-05-14T04:42:00.000-07:00

I didn't win the race and it made me mad. I tried to get away with four laps to go in this 1 kilometer course and was well off the front of the pack, but after bridging up to two riders who were away, they sat up. The pack was close but I couldn't understand why they gave up when we still had a gap. Fools! After the race my dad told me that his high school football coach used to say that if you are a good loser then you'll lose a lot. There is a balance between accepting defeat gracefully while acknowldeging the good that you did, and holding yourself to a high standard of winning. So in the end I feel good about finishing third, but I also accept that I want to win!

I was perhaps too worried about being boxed in for the sprint so I was in the wind a lot over the final few laps, pulling and staying in the top five. I came off Fred Andersen's wheel around the final grand curve of the race, and hit the front about where I had planned to. But in my mind I had envisioned standing up and sprinting at this one particular point. But when I got there, I just didn't do it. I stayed seated instead and tried to wind up the gear. It was working pretty well and at 80 meters I softened up my line as the course straightened out I just kept a loose arc which moved me right. This fouled up a couple guys on my wheel a little bit but they came around anyway. First Evan Fader and then Wade Jennings just before the line. So I was third and none too pleased about it. Most everybody was like that is a good result, but I had a victory within my grasp and couldn't get on the gear I needed to make it mine, so I was disappointed.

I woke up really really tired so I suppose it wasn't a surprise. The race started in a drizzle and with eight laps to go it was a total downpour. I took off my glasses because they were covered with so much water I could see better without then! But then I had no shield over my eyes from the wheel-spray, so I put them back on. The race started out hard, then got easier in the middle, and was tough again near the end. With about eight laps to go I finally started feeling good, but I guess I'm still not at my best. Next weekend I intend to feel great win boh races!

Eric did a good job of countering the move I made but the guys he went with didn't have the fitness either. Shows to go ya that it is one thing to get clear, but holding onto a successful attack takes grit (there was plenty of that out there in the rain, I had it coming out of my ears!), skill, and timing. One thing I'll say for this race was that at least at was safe. All the other fields before ours had crashes, and we even took the brunt of the rain's force. Mike Bradbury was there but not feeling his very best, though he did well to try to cover a big early break that looked dangerous, allowing me to stay in the pack. Rob Holt was there on his new Specialized, but it wasn't his day as work his been destroying him latlely.

Unofficial CAT 3 Best Area Rider Points
1 Evan Fader 111
2 Bo Lee 75
3 Fred Andersen 71
4 Mark Kerlin 69
4 Wade Jennings 69
5 John Raley 58

Evan Looks to be running away with things and he wil be a challenge to beat for sure, and he took 10 points out of me this weekend. But winning both races next weekend would give me 66 points! And there are more than a dozen events left this year, including some time trials that guys like Evan, Bo, Wade, and John tend not to do. And some of the criteriums coming up are very techinical with tough turns right before the finish, which is to my strength as well, unlike this race which had a wide-open non-technical finishing straight. So it is by no means decided. Also, I have about twice as many BAR points this time this year as I did at this time last year. Therefore I feel like I usually do before a win, that it will be a challenge but I feel strong in myself that it can be done.

It must be said that Wade is riding very well too, as he won the Master's 30+ race in addition to finishing 2nd in Cat 3. He beat Nima, Zack Browne, and Dave Osborne some very tough guys!

MSR Blog Crashes Google's Server: Geezers Run Amok!

2006-05-11T07:17:00.000-07:00

An innocent posting on a blog M STREET RACING: Long Awaited Bunny Hop Results Posted after Artemis Commodore 64 Crashes from Y2K Bug caused Google's server to crash today. When MSR revealed that startling news, hundreds if not millions of young MABRA racers had to Google Commodore 64, and the mayhem that unleashed caused the search engine giant to stumble. 18 year old Mike Berry of Team Snow Valley, fresh off a fine top 10 finish at the category 3/4 Poolesville HS Road Race commented "I wasn't even born yet when that thing was released. But I didn't even know that until I looked it up. I tried to Google it but the page just wouldn't load. I had to go to Yahoo, for Pete's sake. Fortunately they linked me to Wikipedia. It makes me wonder how those OGs from MSR can even throw a leg over a bike."

Launch: A Win at Bunny Hop

2006-05-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

Link to Bunny Hop 2006 Gallery at Studiocs

With the confidence I gained at Poolesville, I felt that I had a win in my legs at the Bunny Hop criterium. I was tired and had a hot foot from the day before, but I rehydrated well and my heart rate looked good and low so that was no worry. A hour of sipping the bonds of gravity would do me good.

Our Team Evolution/DLS squad showed up in force and rode aggressively. Brett and Rob were especially active going off the front easily and frequently. You don't really want to spot either of these guys a lead, and so they were chased down. David was also looking spry and willing too, getting in the mix. I also took flyers a few times which caused people to chase me down as well. I was off the front of the race three or four times, once with Andreas Gutzeit, another with James Prickett, and with six laps to go I covered a move by Bo Lee as he bridged across to a break containing Brett. I wasn't interested in the prime, but Bo sprinted for all he was worth for it, while I didn't contest it. I think it was a nice gift certificate to Performance Bike Shop so it was sad to miss that, but I was thinking about the finish.

Rockville Harley Davidson/Silver Cycles tried to line up a leadout with a couple laps to go; but it fell apart with a lap or so to go. But the speed they made and the thrill of anticipation of the coming finish was enough to make me smile. I was hanging around up near the front in about 10th place or so and going into turn 2 on this triangular course, a Route 1 Velo rider dove foreward for the corner drawing ahead of the pack slightly. I followed him through the turn as we passed everyone at the head of the field just as we hit the apex. I reckon we took the corner at about 32 miles an hour and with no brakes. Nice! But that was all he had and he eased off. At this point we were VERY far from the finish line, but I had a gap on everybody, so I took off. Dude couldn't catch my tail so I was clear. I sat down on the nose of my saddle and went full throttle, hugging the sidewalk on the left side of the road. I checked my six before I set up for the final turn and I still had a good gap, but somebody definitely had me in his sights. I rolled out right then cut left in a wide arc, taking the outside line through the final corner, and pulled up out of the turn as the road rose, kicking a few more strokes to sew-up the victory. I even had time to throw my arms aloft as I crossed the line.

Thrilling Thirteenth Place At Poolesville HS RR

2006-05-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it is useful to look at a result subjectively as well as objectively. While 13th place is not a fabulous result, and I garnered just three BAR points and no money for the finish, I was very happy with the way I rode my race today. For those of you who don't know the course: It is about a 10 or 12 mile loop with a section of a mile or two of dirt road. The whole course is undulating, and there is a steady climb with three turns up to the finish, and that climb lasts for about a mile. The dirt road has a double track from car tires, and the middle is a berm of gravel and loose dirt.

We did five laps of the course and on the third lap, just prior to the climb, five riders rode gently but sharply away from the pack. The race wasn't stunningly hard at that moment, but some fellows just took their chance and made a gap. Five or six riders got across to them on the climb. I struggled on this climb throughout the race, frequently having to close gaps on the easier parts, or on the fast section after the top of the hill, which rolled and descended to a fast right hand turn. One other fellow bridged across to the break after the turn. David and Eric from our team was able to make it into the breakaway. Mitch, Vic and I were still feeling fine and therefore we were trying to keep the break close so we could bridge across. When we got to the next turn they had about 15 seconds.

At this point we were nearing the dirt section and I was really hoping to either catch the break or bridge across. But I wasn't feeling very fresh so I didn't know what would happen. We turned onto the dirt and I was near the back of our group, which was down to about 20 guys. That dirt rode undulates and I was passing people like crazy on the downhill parts. It also curves a good bit and while others slowed for the curves I drove my pace through the turns, carving out nice lines in the dirt, criss crossing from track to track freely. Finally I neared the front at the foot of the hill and I stormed over top of it with great force, refusing to brake even though several people cut in front of me. I just scooted around them. By now I was turning a huge gear, I'd freed myself from the chase group, although 3 guys were clinging to my wheel, I wasn't even thinking about what was behind me. I was only thinking of what was in front of me: the break. I could see them and I was closing on them. I didn't panic and try to fly across the gap, I just inched up on them as I shed riders one by one from my wheel. By the time I cleared the dirt section, I had caught up. Truly, it was one of my most shining moments as a bike racer. I bridged up solo to a breakaway that had a very good lead, and I did it at the critical moment, the last chance for anyone to cross the gap, before it ballooned up to a minute lead. Unfortunately, David had crashed as we entered the dirt, so I thought I was alone in the break, although in fact Eric was there, which was news to me.

I hung on up the sharp hill that follows the dirt road, and the pace of the break was actually nice and steady, not terribly hard, just firm. I began cramping on the climb, and after the turn at the top of the hill, which several riders took very badly, I had a gap to cross. After I crossed it with the others, I totally cramped in my right leg, it wouldn't even turn over the pedals at all and I couldn't straighten it out. Eric saw me in trouble and looked back at me hopefully, but helplessly. Fortunately this part of the course is gently rolling downhill, and I was able to coast a bit, stand up and stretch, and work out the cramp, and as nobody was attacking, with some tenacity I was able to close the gap. I knew I was really no the ropes though. Every time there was a small acceleration I would be gapped. At this point I only hoped I could hold on until the last climb, get dropped, but avoid being caught by the chase group. They told us then we had a minute lead, and I was able to stay up there through the dirt, and keep contact until the climb.

Showing an acute tactical sense, a Coppi rider took his chance before the real climb started, and he opened up a decent gap. Most guys in the break were just glass cranking at this point, not because they wanted to, but because they were empty. Once we began the climb people tried to catch him, and this effort caused me to be dropped. I didn't even try to go with the acceleration, something I now regret slightly, but I was afraid I would just totally cramp up. Perhaps I would have been able to hang on? But I doubt it, I have to accept defeat in this case and just realize that if I can continue to drop weight as I have in the last week, this kind of climb won't be the end of me. The Coppi rider held on for a fine win, and Eric came in third or fourth. This photo shows how I felt.

Back in the pack Mitch had tried hard to slip the group but was brought back, and Vic won the field sprint which was for nineteenth place (I think). It was a really exhausting day and really not much tangible return for the effort expended. But on the other hand, I will always remember those moments of the bridge to the break that I made. There was power, artfulness like a dancer as I cut from track to track gliding over the berm to straighten out the turns on the dirt road. There was doggedness, being unwilling to quit the race even though I was in trouble with cramps. In the end it was worth more to me than just a thirteenth place, as I showed a real competitor's spirit. I really did something great by crossing to that break, and it is something that will help me to realize what I can do in the future, when there are no cramps and no hill I cannot climb to defeat me.

Unexpected Success at Carl Dolan Classic

2006-04-23T16:40:00.000-07:00

The Columbia race course has been around for as long as I have raced in this area. I first raced it in 1993 or 1994. In all those years, the best result I can remember was 7th place, in 1994. I made the breakaway in the Pro/Category 1/2/3 race and hung with some of the toughest guys out there, including a former Olympian. Other than that this race has always ended in disappointment for me, until today.

It had rained in the morning but it stopped raining about 1/2 an hour before the race, and the wind was totally calm. Usually there is a cross headwind on a very difficult section of this course, right after a tough sharp climb. So, without the wind today it was difficult to force the pace consistently, and though I tried once or twice to get away, there was really nothing doing as far as a breakaway goes. Likewise in the Masters 30+ and the Pro 1/2/3 race there were no breaks despite frequent attempts, so our Category 3/4 race was always going to be a field sprint.

When I checked in to get my number, they said the race was running 1/2 an hour late, but in fact the race started on time and therefore I nearly missed my start, as did some others. Notable Seaford criterium winner Jon Raley was left on the sidelines, leaving me one less person to contend with!

The last lap included lots of jockeying for position as we approached the last corner, which is about 800 meters from the finish line. The corner is fast and open, and then you descend at well over 30 miles an hour for about 400 meters before you hit a tough fast climb to the finish line.

I was on my teammate Vic's wheel, but I didn't like the body language of the guys in front of him so when Seaford winner Evan Fader jumped hard near the bottom of the hill, I kicked it hard and followed him. He cut hard to the left to shake people off, but I clung to him as he wound it up the hill. He was looking strong and he is certainly 'z bizness, but he had gone way too early, and at about 150 meters to go he was starting to slow down.

At that point if I didn't jump I would cede the initiative, so I jumped, and I immediately thought I had gone too soon, but as we crested the hill and transitioned onto the plateau I was holding my lead and saw no one out of the corner of me eye. Thinking I might have it, I looked over my shoulder to see Bo Lee coming out of my draft and closing on me fast. I gave everything I had as we dueled our way to the line, and as we reached it we both thrust our bikes forward, poking at the finish line.

I thought he had it, and as he extended his hand right after we started coasting he told me he thought I had held on. It was so close neither one of us was sure who won! After I cooled down for a lap though, I asked the officials who won, and they said although it was so close, that Bo had beaten me by "the width of a tire." About one inch in old money.

But before I could feel down about losing, Jon Raley spoke to me and told me to remember that this is about having fun, and I'll tell you what, I wouldn't have had a bit more fun if I had won. I'm really thankful that Bo was there to make it such a close and hard fought sprint, and I'll always remember this day as the day I disagreed with Vince Lombardi. The spirit of the competition is the most important thing, and a closely contended well contested race is all you can ask for. If you win that is great but if you know that you left everything you had out on the course, and were given the privilege of competing in a fair and wonderful race, that counts for a lot more than the simple ego gratification of being able to say that "I won".

Link to 1996 Courier Win

2006-04-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Great story that was published in the Washington Post. I cut the article out at the time, I hope I still have tha scrapbook somewhere....That was my first courier race win. It had seven stops if I recall correctly. I really did and do know my way around this town and could/can ride a bike fast. To the dismay of some stopping at red lights was considered to be a poor choice. Done safely though, messenger races are like a wide-ranging scavenger hut on two wheels. Quite a fun time!

Seaford 2006 Race Story

2006-04-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a four-corner circuit race/criterium, about 1.2 miles,20 laps=25 miles. It seemed like I saw a lot of Evo jerseys near the
front throughout the race, and that was great to see. It was really
raining hard throughout the race, and it was very windy. After turn
two there was a ferocious crosswind that drove everyone into the
gutter. I started at the back and on the first lap people were already
opening gaps between themselves and the other riders there so I'm sure
that turn/crosswind caused a lot of attrition amongst the field. I
moved up after a few laps and got good position, but after a few
attacks, I slid back. I felt a lot of self-doubt. You really had to
ride the wheels to conserve energy and stay up front, but all you got
was an eyeful of dirt and water for your troubles. If you were forced
to the back you'd lose so much speed in the turns, especially turn 4.
It was frightening, all the riders, the wet turns, the speed. Finally
I told myself that I could do it, that I could move up, that I had a
chance in the finale even though I felt so bad. At least, there
weren't as many attacks as last year, but the overall pace seemed
faster. Ted and Dave did a lot in the last couple laps to keep the
pace up, and by then I was in the first ten guys and their work really
allowed me to stay there without too much stress. Thank you two very
much, mates! I had a brilliant line through the last corner: first
rank, outside line, and found myself on Evo Phil's wheel. I wanted to
wait for the apex of the chicane to jump, but I either waited too
long, or my jump wasn't good enough, and Jon Raley (Artemis), Evan
Fader (Route 1) and Bo Lee (Whole Wheel) got the drop on me. I got in
Jon's draft and held off someone on my right to finish fourth. On my
day I would have won the race for sure, as I was right where I wanted
to be, but I just wasn't fast enough. Mike Bradbury (11th) and Phil
were rather active in the race, and Chris W. (Squirrel) was up there
in the last couple laps too, but couldn't quite finish it off the way
he wanted. Mitch finished strong too.

Sunday was nice and sunny, mid 50s, and windy again. 75 miles or so to
ride. Telling the story of a 75 mile road race in a long paragraph is
tough, so I will cut to the chase, or rather, the key attack. Race
situation: two riders off-the-front, with perhaps 30 seconds, no more.
NCVC and DC Velo. Chris W. chasing in no-man's land. After hanging out there for a long time, he started to come back towards the pack.
Showing acute timing, Mitch Ferro led Mike Bradbury up to the front,
and Mike attacked into a turn, and took about half-a-dozen riders with
him. Amazingly, Squirrel caught onto the back of the group. For about 20 minutes there was a furious pursuit between the 2 leaders, the chasers, and the pack. At this point, my right foot (broken in 2001) had been mostly
numb for about 2 hours, my neck and shoulders were killing me, my left
thigh is super-tight and flirting with cramping, and so I'm just trying to survive. I got dropped a couple times, but fought my way back across to the back of the pack with a few others who are on-the-ropes. Finally a selection was made with a group of 7 firmly away. Now, the race was an omnium, 10 places each day, tie-break to the better road race finisher. Only one guy in the break scored points on Saturday: Evan of Route 1 Velo. So it was totally worth it for me to hang in and do my best sprint from the field. But I just wanted to quit. I thought of how I’d like to be playing with my son, or be with my wife. But like the Energizer Bunny, I just keep going, as one other rider commented. And so does Squirrel: Amazingly, after being away solo, Squirrel stayed in the break. Meanwhile in the chase, Mitch is really active, showing what a
great rider he is. He’s not chasing down Mike and Chris mind you, just
doing what he could to go with counter-moves and such. Then, to our surprise, we get to the finishing extension, and we’re stopped by a train.
The break is there too, also delayed by it, but so are the officials, and they let the break go after the train passes go, then hold the chase pack up, and let them go 1 minute 38 seconds later. Some guys from the pack attack and dangle off the front of the pack but I ignored them. I just tried to maintain good position 5-10 guys back. I didn’t mark anybody in particular, didn’t try to key off anybody or follow anybody - a point I emphasize because this is a common tactic. Thanks to the team we had looked at the finish prior to the race so I knew it. You come around a fast left hander with a pothole in the apex :( and then it is slightly uphill with a strong crosswind and about 500 meters to go. I got a great line through the turn, no brakes, and I stood up and started sprinting to cover an
early move by an NCVC on the right. Then the guy saw the finish,
realized he had gone way too soon and he gave up. I saw Rob Hampton
from Rockville Harley way on the left side of the road, in front of
me, as the road curves slightly to the left. He had attacked with about 1km to go. I realized that if anybody had gotten on my wheel that early, even though I was ahead of everybody but Rob, I’m was so far from the finish that that person would come off my wheel out of my draft at the end of the sprint and beat me. So I dove left, underneath Rob, and almost rode onto the shoulder. I used him as a pick (as in basketball) to keep anyone off of my wheel. Now I was at 200 meters to go and my legs were on fire. They’re aching, with hot spots flaring through various muscles. At this point I was sitting down, churning the gear over, and the finish is very slowly coming. I’m not going super-fast by any means, so I wondered if I would be passed. But by then everyone was so tired that a long powerful sprint from the front seemed to be the right move, even if it wasn’t very, very fast. I told myself that even though time (and my bike) seemed to be going very slowly, and though the pain was great, that it would soon be over, and that if I just kept on going for a few more seconds I would win the field sprint. I drifted over to the right to ease the crosswind’s effect on me, as it was from the left. I was challenged on my right by Bill Davis but I hung on and threw my bike forward as I crossed the finish line, and won the field sprint by half a bike wheel or a bit more. That made me 8^th. Mike was second - he got away from the break with Evan but Evan ‘ripped his legs off’ in the sprint. Mike did look a little bit shorter in the parking lot after the race- but not that much. Squirrel came in behind Eli Hengst (who won the race overall last year) for 4^th. Mitch came in with the chase. We had 16 Evo teammates start but 11 dropped out so you know it was a hard
race!

Now onto the math: I scored 7 points Saturday, 3 on Sunday. That
tied me for second with the winner on Saturday, but the tie-break went
to me so I was second for the weekend, Mike was 4th. Chris W. (Squirrel) was 6th. I was really glad to see Mike get away, and do such a fine job in the finish to boot, and quite proud of Chris W. as well. Also, Mitch really earned my respect. He was smart, strong, and selfless; I hope that soon he'll have his day. I felt very humbled by my result, to finish second from amongst such a large (75-100 guys I guess) and talented field. Mostly I attribute it to guts. I was simply tenacious - refused to give up no matter what, and it paid off for me. Even though I wasn't at the top
of my form I made the best of it and got a great result. And it was a
great day overall for the team, too.

Thanks for reading.

Dramatic Finish to the Seaford Weekend

2006-04-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Here is an absoloutely fantastic photo. Of course the fact that I (in white/blue,middle) won this sprint (for 8th) has nothing whatsoever to do with how fantastic it is! You can really see the emotion on the faces of all the riders. I think it is fair to say that I have the best snarly-face of anyone in this group shown here, and that definitely had something to do with the result! Thanks to the strong finish, I took second in the race weekend - best of the rest with 10 points behind the 19 points of the winner: Evan Fader (who it must be said didn't do anything like fade on the second day of the event - he won the road race!). You can tell by the size of the group here that it was indeed a hard 75 mile road race. 7 guys one minute-thirty in front of us, and just 9 in this group. That means that those in this group showed our heels to about 80 guys. The word is guts.