I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more COWBELL- Cyclocross race in Augusta, NJ

After taking a break from 'cross racing last weekend in order to take the LT test, I was eager to get back to it.

I was ready for more pain. I was ready for more fun.

I was ready for more cowbell.

The Augusta race was the last of the NJ cross series. I've participated in about 3 others, and thought they were fantastic races with well designed courses and a warm, welcome feel. All of the courses had been very well designed, and each race was a completely different experience because of it.

Upon my arrival, a thick fog had descended over the course. This, of course meant it was much colder than it would be later in the day. the C races always go first, and that normally means they have to race in colder (and sometimes crappier conditions. Isn't it funny how that works?

The temperature was in the 40's while i was on the bike. aside from my feet, which were numb by the end of the race, I felt fine.

I had a chance to spin my legs out and warm up, which is so important on a cold race day. I got to chat it up with a few new and familiar faces. You end up seeing many of the same people for most of these races, which makes for a more friendly and familiar feel.

As we waited for the start, the race organizers thanked us for coming out, and invited us to all come back next year for another great cross experience. I'm looking forward to it.

Once the whistle was blown, the bunch sprint started. I knew this was going to be a faster course than usual, so I decided to put a little more energy into the starting spring in order to vie for a better position.

I stuck with the pack for a good while until it spread out, but was happy with my placement. It's a delicate balance between putting enough energy to be in a good spot and blowing yourself up too early.

The course was indeed fast; there were some nice descents that allowed you to get a good bit of speed. however, with descents come rises. and run ups.

After the first lap, i started to feel it. I concentrated on keeping a steady rhythm and choosing the best lines through the turns. there were a few slips here and there, but no hilariously awesome crashes to report (unfortunately, i know...)

The pain train went on until i heard the bell lap. One of my goals for this race was to not get lapped. I saw the leaders making way, and I started to push it harder in order to avoid getting spanked. I was able to hold off and complete the full five laps. I had a strong last lap, and was able to pass a few people. I ended up coming in 36th out of 54. A little better than each prior race. A good end to a good race.

My back and my lungs were killing me, but i felt good (in a terribly painful sort of way.) My obnoxiously green steed was with me the whole way, and took some solid pounding without complaints. I'm yearning for a more solid wheelset, however (I'm lookin at you, 2007 Ksyrium Elites...)

Big ups to Patrick Clifford, who's been rocking the C- races all season. he came in second this week and was first at Jamestown. Super talented guy, and really personable. look out for him. and a Super big thanks to my buddy Tom for snapping most of these shots. Thanks for comin out buddy!

In my limited experiences with cyclocross (five races),I've noticed that a wonderful paradox exists: Pain and fun. Is it the fun that brings us pain? or is it the pain that brings us fun?

I might be getting a little too poetic here, but I think that anyone who appreciates the concept of suffering on a bike knows what I mean. We jump on these marvelous two-wheeled inventions, and we go out there to suffer. reallly suffer. We want it. It makes us better.

I'm reminded of a quote i read a while back about the relationship between pain and cycling:

"To be a cyclist is to be a student of pain....at cycling's core lies pain, hard and bitter as the pit inside a juicy peach. It doesn't matter if you're sprinting for an Olympic medal, a town sign, a trailhead, or the rest stop with the homemade brownies. If you never confront pain, you're missing the essence of the sport. Without pain, there's no adversity. Without adversity, no challenge. Without challenge, no improvement. No improvement, no sense of accomplishment and no deep-down joy. Might as well be playing Tiddly-Winks."

-Scott Martin

If being a road cyclist means one is a student of pain, then being a 'cross racer is akin to taking the honors courses. It's intense. It's and hour of solid sufferocity. you don't have too much time to contemplate it like you would on a climb a few miles long. You push yourself to the brink, and keep it there until you can't bear it anymore. That's usually when you encounter a muddy run up or a set of barriers. @#$@%^.

When it's all done with, a sense of peace and accomplishment comes over me. regardless of what place I came in. As long as I finish. That kind of pain is cleansing to me. out on that course, the last thing on my mind are my neuroses, romantic problems, and dissatisfaction with life. I guess you could classify what we do as a form of escapism, but the difference is what we do isn't destructive. It's beautiful.


and muddy!

Ah, the sweet sweet goodness of an indian summer (or Global warming)

Today made me happy for two reasons:

1) I got out of work early since no one was around and it was the day after thanksgiving,

2) It was a beautiful, sunny, 50 degree day.


Well, after last night's culinary binge, I'd been itching to get out and put some base mileage on. So off i went to the park wearing a short sleeve jersey and some knickers. I may have been pushing it, but I love sunny 50-degree days. its the perfect temperature once you get your heart rate up.



I went out and went for a spin around Manhattan's backyard, aka Central Park. Brought the camera so I could share with internetland. People must've thought i was batty taking pictures while on the bike, but hey, I'm an ARTIST, DAMMIT.

Oh, how I love central park. Regardless of how many stupid, blind, jaywalking pedestrians there are, it's always a good experience for me. Sure, there are the leash less dogs and crazy mothers pushing their SUV-like baby carriages into oncoming traffic, but I think it adds to the charm of it all, and it definitely helps with your handling skills. In all honestly, I'd go batty without that park being as close as it is. As a New York city cyclist, it's my bread and butter.

I try to get out there two or three times during the weekday at about 6 in the morning to get the training in before work. it's a pretty loop, with some nice rollers and what passes for a hill (Harlem Hill) if you do enough repeats of it (like 5-10).

In the CRCA, we use the 6 mile loop for a bunch of our weekly races. it makes for a good circuit race, with most of the finish lines being at the top or right after the top of a steep little rise called "Cat's paw."



Biking around the park is a great way to see a random sample of the city. Next to the subway, its the greatest place for people watching. Even the cyclists are a motley crew:


The Bike Racers in training:

The Freds (Oh yes, Fanny Pack and all):

and, of course, Crazy old dude:

On a beautiful day in the park, you simultaneously forget and remember that you're smack-dab in the middle of the greatest city on earth. A little green in a concrete jungle, the New Yorker's sandbox, the cyclist's respite. It's even better early in the morning, when you can catch the sun rising and hitting the buildings on central park west. It's a vivid and refreshing sight.

Without this strip of land in the middle of Manhattan, cyclists would have a much, much harder time training and riding in the city. I think about that every time I almost get killed by a runaway child, dog, raccoon, or homeless person. This park is so many things to so many people, and for me, it's my escape from the drudgery of life. I just follow those double lines until I'm ready to attack the world again.

Open Letter to the cycling gods

Dear Fausto, Eddie, Mario, Maurizio, Lance, Floyd, Jan, Ivan, and George,

Please forgive me for the transgressions I am about to commit by stuffing my face on this Thanksgiving. I know i'm supposed to be losing 10 more lbs to get down to 10% body fat, but the stuffing, turkey, sweet potatoes, gravy, devilled eggs, and fois gras are beggin me to accost them orally. I promise i'll play make up.

Anyway, I'll be suffering enough as it is on Sunday's Cross race. (should be hilarious).

Love,

Christophe

PS- i could use a new set a ksyriums, and a 2007 campy veloce gruppo for my cross bike. how bout it?

Bonus points for anyone who can name the full names of the cycling gods I was addressing.

Happy Thanksgiving, Kids!

I believe in Floyd.

I've been considered an idealist in the past. I've done it with the girls I've dated, with my friends, hell, with my life. And I especially do it with the people I admire.

Call my naive, call me an idealist. I don't care.

I Believe in Floyd

It's so easy for people to go on witch hunts after cyclists, especially with all the historical bouts of doping. It's really easy to get jaded and just think that everyone dopes.

It's just that mentality that is ruining the sport.

People tend to forget an important part of the legal system, or when accusations are launched: You're innocent until you're proven guilty.

So far, nothing's been proven. What i do know is i read Arnie Baker's PowerPoint on Floyd that specifically outlined all the flaws, inconsistencies, and ramifications of the tests that were done on Floyd's pee-pee.

1) The chain of custody was broken
2) Both samples were above the threshold of contamination
3) the Testosterone test wasn't actually positive, and only one of the 4 indicators for the carbon isotope test was positive
4) all the other tests were negative. between the time the positive test was taken and the time the subsequent tests were done, it would have been impossible for Floyd to metabolise the purported amount of testosterone in his body
5) various factors could have thrown off the test:
a) He drank alcohol the night before
b) He had cortisone injected into his hip the day before (this would lower the levels of epitestosterone in his body, effectively raising the ratio of Testosterone-to-Epitestosterone, which is what the test measures.
c) He has a thyroid condition, for which he takes hormones orally. Wouldn't you think that a orally administered hormone would maybe affect a test that measures the amount of a hormone in the body?
d) taking testosterone on a one-off basis is stupid and yields no performance gain. If you were going to cheat using testosterone, you would use it over the course of weeks during the off season.

I believe in Floyd.

I do. There's so much reasonable doubt it's not even funny.

They logged his wattage for stage 17 and found that he was well withing the wattage and exertion ranges that he had trained on. Nothing crazy. The reason he won by the margin that he did was because the Peloton thought he would crack again. They dragged their asses until it was too late. It was an amazing ride, but it was a ride Floyd was completely capable of doing without any enhancement (which testosterone couldn't offer anyway).

I fume every time i hear overweight, inactive sports fans that watch football and baseball lecture me about how all cyclists dope.
Last time I checked, (next to the Olympics), cycling is one of the most heavily regulated and tested sports for doping. and the punishments are more severe. Every time a big headed football/baseball player gets accused of or caught doping, everyone shrugs it off. slap on the hand, 4 game suspension. It makes me sick.

cycling's a great sport. Our athletes sweat their lives out, the bleed for this sport. they break collar bones, swim in lactic acid, and suffer up the rudest mountains in the world to show they're the best. I refuse to let my perception of it get tarnished by witch hunts and people who carry bias.

I believe in Floyd.

Bike Party in NY

For any fellow NYC cyclists. this should be fun.

The Dreaded Lactate Threshold Test

As part of joining NY Velocity, we are given two Lactate Threshold Tests: one at the beginning, one right before racing season begins. I had the pleasure of experiencing my first one yesterday.

Hooo.


It's a pretty interesting test, but the whole experience is (rightfully so) humbling. Going into it, I know that I was a tad over trained from it being the off season, and my racing cyclocross for the first time certainly doesn't help. Ah well, such is the nature of the beast.

It was held at one of the coach's apartments. Francisco is studying to get into med school, and Is a cat 3 (i believe). The test is conducted on a Computrainer, which allows a specific wattage to be inputted as resistance.

I got to warm up for about ten minutes, and while he was calibrating the machine, he asked me to go all out for 30 seconds. I did as I was told.

I checked my max cadence to see where i stood. The fixed gear riding i started doing this year has definitely helped my spin. My cadence max was 188 RPM. hoo-rah.
I have a feeling that with my body type and leg speed, I should be training to be a sprinter. I'm going to construct this season's goals around that.

We got started with the test. The structure: 6 minute intervals with 1 minute of rest in between, during which you get your blood drawn to measure the amount of Lactic acid in your body. we started at 130 watts and went up in 30 watt increments. The first 3 or so were totally fine. I started to feel the effort after the 3rd interval, and it got worse from there. The test stops when you can no longer keep your cadence above 70 rpm.

Body 101: as your body starts to work anaerobically, your body produces lactic acid as a by-product of the anaerobic process. Your muscles use the Lactic acid as fuel as well, but as exertion increases, Lactic acid starts to accumulate at a faster rate than your body can use/flush out.

and in walks muscle pain, stage left.

at 310 watts, My legs started giving out. I had 1 minute left for that interval, but just couldn't do it. and there have it, kids. Pain, pain, pain.

And it's oddly satisfying.

I think that as a group, cyclists are some of the only people who engage in positive masochism. obviously our cousins in running and tri's know the deal, but it's different.

The most important and helpful output from the LT test is that now I know what my HR zones are. This'll allow me to train more effectively, and built up my aerobic base by riding at just-below threshold for extended periods of time.

Time for sleep. light spin in the AM. The temperatures are finally low enough that I can take out my new Castelli bibs for a test run. Here's to hoping they're toasty.

Link of the day: the various Grades of Cyclocross Mud

http://members.aol.com/napavelo/mud.htm

So true. These 9 grades of mud are what make cyclocross fantastic. I think they also forgot the Jello Pudding grade and the Melted Chocolate Ice cream grade.

Now I'm hungry...

for mud.

Doing a cross race in Augusta, NJ on sunday. Should be fun. more on that later.

Who else is racing this weekend?

Ah, The first post.

Following my buddy Jason, I decided it'd be fun to have a blog that is devoted solely to my bicycle-related pursuits.

My name's Christophe, and all I want to do is ride my bike.

I've been riding seriously for about 3 years now, and it's been a major, essential, good and balancing force in my life. It keeps me level, It allows me to improve my body and my mind. It's my escape from the world, and a way of dealing with the sour patches of life.

I just started racing road and cyclocross this year, and I've got the bug. I just joined a developmental racing team called NY Velocity. I'll be chronicling my time with them as a new bike racer.

I'm writing this blog primarily for myself, so that I can look back in months/yrs and see how I've come along. If you're reading this, I hope you enjoy the riiiiide