Shake and Bake

Here we are, boys and girls- It's already mid August, and the road season is almost over. This year's season ran a bit long in the tooth and by July I felt about as burnt out as a stoner at Burning Man... I guess going full-bore starting with training camp in Feb until now takes its toll (and i don't think I'm the only one...) The ennui of late summer bike racing was taking its toll, but now three things have happened that have set the fire in my loins once again:

1. Cyclocross season's around the corner!!!! If I have any hope of finishing in the middle of the pack as a newly minted cat 3 in CX, I better start training more...
2. The team has been absolutely kicking ASS lately. 2 wins in the park by Zak, Alvin winning Tokeneke (and finally getting his cat 3 upgrade), and the little stunt Zak and I pulled at Lou Maltese (more on that below)
3. For some god-forsaken reason, I'm pre-reg'ed to do the Green Mountain Stage race. After last year's spectacle* you think i would have learned my lesson, but no.

So in order to not embarrass myself too much at GMSR or in the 09 CX season, I've ramped up my training again. I know, coach roger must be so proud. It's easy to let yourself go for a few weeks after racing pretty much nonstop since march, but I've toned down my normal diet (not really) and started putting some real miles in again.

So onto Last Sunday:

I'd never actually raced Lou Maltese before, but it's widely known as the Ultimate-mega-Excitable-cat-4-world-championships. Needless to say, this race was in our sights. The race started out in a similar fashion to CRCA races, with the addition of some non-CRCA jokers from Bklyn and Queens (Kissena, etc). It was pretty much guaranteed that it was going to be a sprint finish, what with the entire excitable cat 4's in the bunch. There were numerous half-assed attempts at breaks, but the field never let anything stick for more than 1/3rd of a lap. I played my usual be-lazy-and-don’t-do-any-work,-you-fat-sprinter card. The rest of our team did a few leg openers, with Zak, Beckerman, Tim, and Chad attacking a few times. Nothing special. The non-sprinters did a good job of helping to rein in whatever did go.

Coming into the last lap, Reggie and Zak stuck near the front. I waited till the west side/tavern to get into position- looking for my leadout of destiny- AKA TIM ROGERS.

Tim's surgical precision in the leadout is remarkable- he’s steady, finds great lines, and guides you to victory with perfect timing. I stuck onto Tim’s wheel like Britney Spears at an all-you-can-eat-buffet. Zak was on my wheel, waiting to do his thing. I had been anticipating giant leadout trains from Setanta and NYVelocity, but nothing came around. I kept an eye on "Union" Steve Marmo, who I had been talking sh!t to all week. I was praying he wouldn't whip out a tire iron and take a swipe at me mid sprint (kidding!)- he's been racing strong and i made sure i knew where he was. With 1 or 2 K to go, Beckerman goes off on a flyer. The field freaks out, knowing he's a TT monster, and the whole pack sped up and got strung out trying to chase him. I think this was extremely beneficial to our finish, as we had a great position when it got strung out.

As we got to the boathouse, Tim was chugging along. The Sprinter on Organic tried to go early and we followed. Tim rammed us about 1/3rd of the way up

Cats paw and then Zak and I went. Zak came around me and I started to sprint. Our timing was perfect and no one was getting around us. It's a great feeling when you know you're golden before you cross the line- it’s almost surreal; it goes in slow motion. I vaguely remember hearing Steve curse my name.

The minute we crossed the line 1-and-2, we did a Guido Fistpump and screamed in victory. We showed up to the Cat 4 World series and dominated on our home turf. Everyone played their part- we won because everyone raced well and for the team. Reggie, Chad, Tim, Zak- I'm so glad that we get to race together! my "oh" face even made an appearance:

This month has by far been the best month for the team so far. We're finally coming into our own, and done with the growing pains of a new team. Everyone’s racing their strengths, and we're taking advantage of those strengths with our solid, selfless teamwork. I'm so proud of our guys!

I didn't remember this right away, but before the race i had called that we would finish 1st and 2nd. As Andy Shen was photographing that day, and apparently I made sure to remind him of my prediction mid-race:

If you think that's a shocker symbol I'm throwing up, well then you don't know me very well. I'm a polite, meek person who isn't fond of the spotlight at all. I'm also 6 feet tall and have a full head of hair. Ladies?

This latest result puts me within earshot of a cat 3 upgrade. No, really- stop laughing. that wasn't supposed to be a joke!

Note- due to the lack of an actual "podium" for the podium shot, it looks like I came in 3rd if you go by height order. next time I'll wear risers in my Sidis.

*Last year's GMSR incident involved a hilarious road race stage, where i took a wrong turn, did 15 extra miles, bonked, got severe GI distress and had to poop my brains out at a pizzeria at 11:30 AM right before hitting the final climb. I proceeded to get passed by Evie Stevens, who had probably started about 1 hr after me.

GMSR hurts

VT carbo-loading=maple syrup.

I finally found an internet connection!!! VT is beautiful , but if cell phone coverage is any indicator, people around here still use smoke signals and carrier pigeons to communicate. That, or I'm just a spoiled new yorker who's a slave to technology and won't make it 2 days when the zombie apocalypse happens...

So we're here. We just finished the 2nd stage of the race, which was a circuit race. yesterday was the 6 mile (semi)cannibal Time Trial. It started off with a hill, and then was a mix of flat and undulating rollers. the finish was after a huge dip- a steep downhill followed by a steep uphill- momentum could bring you most of the way up it, but then you had to suffer for the rest of it and finish strong. I made sure to pave myself up the hill and just concentrated on my heart-rate and my breathing. In retrospect, i probably sounded like a coke-head taking a LaMas class. Once i got over the top, i tried to keep the speed between 25-30 mph on the flats, and faster on the dowhills. it was a fun course, and the semi-cannibal rules made it a purer show of athletic ability- it wasn't as much about the super-retarded aero tt bike etc- it was about going fast on your bike. Although certain people decided to still try and squeeze aero advantages out by doing silly things like wearing helmet covers and putting bento boxes on their top tubes (ahem... mike beckerman...) I finished in the middle of the cat 4 field, with my teammates mike and matt coming in 9th and 11th, respectively (i guess the bento box worked...)

Today's stage was pretty brutal as far as circuit races go. first of all, it was LONG for a circuit race- about 68 miles. two laps of a 34 mi course. There was a small KOM in the middle and there was one sprint preem. This race was tough in so many ways. the first lap was pretty much a game of accelerate-for-five-seconds-and-then-slow-down. I hate that game... The roads were also pretty terrible- a few people ccracked new carbon rims. i would probably not take that too well....

we organized really well for the sprint preem. not knowing exactly where the finish was, we decided to take control of the front with about 10 miles to go. 5 of us rotated off the front and kept the pace high. as the sprint came into view, we killed it for matt, who's our best GC contender. He took the sprint! I did the obligatory lead-out-man-fist-pump.

somehow, this course manages to fit short uphills and one extremely long downhill. it was great to spend a few minutes in your top gear, catching your breath after the KOM.

as we approached the finish, we tried to organize again. it proved to be alot tougher. the field had been cut in half by now and the people that were there weren't having it. Matt told me he was on my wheel, and I weaved through to take first position, thinking he was on my wheel. all of a sudden, i hear the usual cat 4 scraping of carbon-on-asphalt. we speed up. I'm in first position killing it with 300 meters to go. I keep killing it till about 50-100 meters are left. i'm waiting for matt to come around me, but it never happens- instead, the field comes around me and i finish 17th. Apparently matt got cut off in the sprint and ended up sprinting in the grass... the perfect leadout wasted! either way, it was a really fun and intense race.

damage control- between the fast pace and about 4 crashes, haalf the field, along with half of my team, got taken out. rob got taken to the hospital with what turned out to be a bruised ligament. However, since he had cracked his helmet open, they decided to immobilize him for an hour. he was about as pissed as a nun in a donkey show...



Tomorrow is the 80 mile road race that takes us up the App gap twice. I think I'll win it.

God, I'm hilarious.