August: Time Trials and Summercross

August is a bit of a quagmire. It's late in the season, people seem to be burning out a bit, and the end or road racing is but a month and a half away. There's a dearth in club racing, and with no desire to go GMSR (ie: die), it seems like a great month to branch out a little, try new things and have fun.

So I may have indulged in an impulse buy with the new TT bike, but I took it out and see how much pain i could induce on myself at the CRCA TT.

There's really no avoiding it, they pretty much suck through and through. I'd never raced of TTed at FBF, but i knew that it was a windy sum'bitch. I just kept my head down and rode the pain train.



So it seems that your portly blogger isnt quite a TT "specialist." i finished the 11.5 mi course in under 30 min, which was my goal, but not by much. As the Empire guys, Pat Littlefield (who rode a brilliant TT), and Andy shen zoomed by me, i thought about "schmalzing" them in a grand fashion, but then came to my senses and realized that flipping the bird mid-time trial is sooo not aero.

To snark myself for just a moment, how come people always say so-and-so rode a "brilliant" Time trial? What's brilliant and keeping your head down and pedaling really hard? Einstein is brilliant, Da Vinci is brilliant, but riding a bicycle? You don't exactly need to be a Rhodes scholar to win a bike race. I, for one, ride retarded, pain-induced time trials, complete with drooling, snot rocketing, and sticking my tongue out wayyy too much. those signs point to retardation, not brilliance. but hey, that's just me. Either way, I'll be giving it another shot at Silvermine, along with trying to look pro by doing the TTT.


The true highlight of August for me happened last Saturday, with the Amuse-bouche (sorry, I'm half french- anon haters, Fire away!) of the cyclocross season: Summercross at the New Jersey State Fair in Augusta.

I'd be lying if i said i wasn't as excited as a jersey girl at a bon jovi concert. last season was my first taste of cyclocross and i got hooked for the whole season. I'm excited to try it this season now that I'm in better shape and know what I'm getting myself into. Hopefully an upgrade to B is coming up.



So they set up the cross race in the demolition derby pit of the New Jersey state fair. The course is fast and flat, but a bit technical. There were burmed (sp?) turns, big bumps (descriptive!) and a "disco death drop" (stairs and a run down), Being as i hadn't jumped on or off my cross rig in 8 months, I was curious to see how it would go. The C race started, and i found myself near the back. I put my head down and started turning the pedals. It was great to be on a bike and have to wrench that sucker around. I felt the familiar sprays of mud, and got back into the rhythm of dismounting, jumping over stuff, and jumping back on the saddle without smashing up the baby-makin' equipment. It felt good to be racing this wacky sport again. I slowly started to pass a few people. I was feeling better than i remember feeling in past cross races. Of course i had to have my obligatory crash at the top on the stairs, as I tried to re-mount while going down the soft dirt descent. man, I love embarassing myself! but you guys probably already knew that...



Even with the crash, I managed to slip into 4th place. i had no idea what place i was in till after the race. You're going too hard during the even to even think about where you are. All you know is that you just need to keep pedaling and passing the guy in front of you. nice, smooth barrier jumps and going fast where you can is what counts. now That I've TTed, I would say the intensity of the effort is comparable (although more erratic), but not nearly as boring. There's obstacles, there's crap to run up, there's mud to splash through, there's beer to drink afterwards! Most fun I've had on two wheels.

Other highlights of the race:

Adler Riding a smart Race while representing the pinnacle of New Jersey taste and class!



CRCA Juniors Bringing their A-Game



Richard Bravo Riding his first cross race! on a single speed??



This guy!


he's for real. The flora and fauna that is the rural New Jersey Population is fascinating to an egocentric, self centered Manhattanite such as yours truly (or any Manhattanite for that matter...)


Thanks to Bill Moore for the awesome shots!

CRCA Twofers, TT on the way

Last weekend there were two crca races in one weekend. a scratch race followed by a points race. I was interested to see what the dynamic would be with two CRCA races in two days. Would the same people show up? Would i have enough juice left for the points race? What was our team strategy going to be? Would i end up crashing and further adding to Campagnolo's profit margin for 2007?

photo by team organic

The first race was your typical CRCA B/C field scratch race. slightly sketchy, kind of humid, but still fun. A few of our guys tried to get into a few breaks but non of them pulled through, including Kyle, who was in a few of them. I'd be lying if i said it didn't make me happy that it came to a field sprint. Organic had a good lead-out going and took 1 and 2- with my buddy Gustavo taking 2nd. I managed to not hit any orange road work barrels this time and came in 7th, while Chris price got third. I heard he just got his upgrade to cat 3- good job Price, it's well deserved!

The points race the next day was probably one of the most entertaining CRCA races of the season. We had a plan, everyone was making moves, and it paid off. We had some of our guys push the pace right off the first lap. No warm-up lap this time. noooo noo. I believe the B field managed at least one sub-13 minute lap, which was pretty great- it was a super fast race. Pushing the pace on the first lap in the B/C field ripped a good number of riders off the back right off the front, and it kept people on their toes. I did my best to sit in, hang on, and mix it up in the sprint points.

The lap 2 sprint ended up getting neutralized because we came across the women's field RIGHT at the top of the hill. Not good. Given the circumstances (no one crashes), it went as well as it could have. my buddy chad had worked really hard to get me a good position for that sprint point and it was to no avail. ah well. back into the pack.

after the 2nd lap, attacks started to happen. I believe we had at least one guy in every break, which was great. I think everyone had alot of fun with that.

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

The man of the hour for NYVC was Kyle Peppo. Sandbagger! Again! He's a crazy man and is quickly becoming our breakaway specialist. He got away with a few laps to go and they were able to stay away. It must be nice to have the energy to attack all the time. That must be pretty painful. I much more enjoy the sit-my-fat-ass-in-the-pack-till-the-field-sprint sort of deal, but hey- whatever floats his boat. two B field wins in two weeks- If he wins another he just may get upgraded to the A's!

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

Price was able to rock 3rd on the points race- again, justifying the upgrade. have fun in the A field bro- it's time for a new level of pain!

I wasn't able to get any points at the hill sprints, but managed 5th at the final field sprint, which got me 6th place. All in all, a great and exciting race weekend.

After my painful cannibal TT experience @ owasco, i got it in my head to build up a TT rig.

I'm not turning into a tri geek. promise.

If you see me wearing sleeve-less jerseys and a mankini, kindly stick a frame pump in my front wheel. I'll deserve it.


Sure, bike racing isn't about the bike. You'll hear lancey-pants and all the purists spout that off. And while it's true, I think in some way it is about the bike. A beautiful race bike, TT rig, or cyclocross setup is a gorgeous thing. Form meets function. Style meets speed. I'm not saying that justifies riding a $12K Derosa just for Rides up the runcible spoon, but I think that there's no problem with getting a beautiful bike to race on if you can afford it.



So i decided to build up a TT rig to dabble in TTing for the next few seasons. See if I like it. I managed to nab a Hed Aerolab for a great deal on Ebay. I built it up with nice new campy stuff and an oval A-700. All in all it cost me $1500 without wheels. I'd say that's a pretty good deal.



The saddle that came with this thing is obscene. All it is is a Sliver of carbon fiber. The leading edges of this thing were SHARP. As pretty and as light as it is (122 Grams to be exact). There's no way I'm putting my Grundle through that every time i race a time trial. I figure I'll be in enough pain as it is. Fizik Arione It is!



I tweaked my TT fit over the week and think I'm in good shape for tomorrow. hell, I can only improve after the cannibal suffer-fest at wasco, right?

Off to bed, TT in the morning. Good luck to everyone!