One of these things is not like the other...

(photo by Claudette Lajam)

I like to think of last week as the Epic weekend of humiliation! It's not everyday that you get the chance to since up for TWO things that are going to make you look bad.

Saturday was the Silvermine TT up in Tuxedo Park, NY. Being the TT specialist that I'm known to be, I squeezed into my skinsuit and drove up to Silvermine with Chad to show people like Mike Beckerman and Patrick Littlefield who's the boss. I was obviously pretty successful in showing them who's the cock of the walk in these here parts... is the sarcasm oozing through your monitor yet?

I've been getting more and more comfortable on my TT bike lately- the new bar extensions i got made a big difference. Next up I need to buy a saddle that doesn't ravage my Dingleberry wonderland (thanks schmalz). The fizik arione is a great saddle for regular road riding, but sitting on the pointy, unpadded Tip like one is prone to doing is a bit painful... I guess i should buy one of those tri-geek saddles...

Self depreciation aside, The Silvermine TT was put together really well by the Westwood guys. The course was varied and challenging, with rollers all over the place. obviously a rolling time trial (or any tt for that matter) isn't my strong suit, but I guess that's why i do it. You're bound to get better if you keep trying... OR if you keep buying more expensive aero equipment...

As a tangent- the promoters of the Green Mountain Stage Race have decided to make this year's 1st Stage a Cannibal TT. you can only use equipment that's legal for road race use; no aerobars, Snazzy helmets, or nutjob TT bikes allowed. a pair of deep dish carbon wheels is as far as you're allowed to go. They cite the reasons for doing this as "leveling the playing field" and "encouraging carpooling."

To be honest, I think its great. my opinion might be skewed, but to me TT's are all about removing variables, and riding as fast as you possibly can. TT equipment can be financially prohibitive for some people, and it also gives a certain advantage to those who can afford it- but that's not my point (and I'm not being a class warrior here). I think the competition is much more satisfying when a person's body is what determines the winner- not the stuff he buys. I think Kierin Track racing in Japan has that sort of idea- they all have to use the same kind of bikes, equipment etc- the real winner is not determined by the bike, but the man.

I also think a cannibal TT is going to result in different people winning it. Some people are great time trialists not because they put out insane numbers, but because they're aero as shit and modulate their efforts well. It'll be interesting to see who's at the top of the GC after stage one of GMSR. Then again, I don't think it'll do me that much good going cannibal, considering i got passed by a Westwood guy racing Cannibal @ Silvermine while i was as aero as I'll ever be...

Sunday's CRCA Race was more fun and more pain. The B field had the option of Racing with the C's (sandbagging) or Racing with the A's (sucking). Even though racing with the C's would have increased the chances of Shoving Bacon in my mouth, I decided to race with the A's and see what it was all about. It was a ton of fun Racing with Bandits and Empire guys in the field. At one point in the race I was reminded of the old Sesame Street book cover:


except it was more like this:

(photo by claudette Lajam)

or maybe this...


It was also fun to race with hooligans like Kyle Peepo (who ended up winning the race). My legs were a bit tired from the day before, but I sat in, had some fun, did a little work, and didn't get dropped. Kyle and a bunch of Guys broke away early on in the race and it stuck. JK and Wiswell ended up bridging up to the break and stayed away as well. Our team missed getting people in the breaks, so we exercised futility and tried to reel the break back in wayyy to late in the game. It also didn't help that the break had, y'know, Cat 1's and 2's in it... Congrats to Peppo on the win by the way.


Green Mountain is around the corner... I'm super pumped for it. I'm going to devote the next three weeks to both training for it and wondering why in the hell I'm signed up for it. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a one-man shit show on my part, but I can guarantee it's going to be fun anyway (or maybe because of that fact.)

TT's

Last Sunday i decided that I should actually USE the Time trial Bike i bought. I signed up for the CRCA ITT. There's nothing better than a time trial for you to really let your sparkling mediocrity shine through. The TT consisted of 5 laps of the circuit they use for the FBF races, and it was windy as hell and HOT. In order to be as pro as possible, i acquired one of the NYVC Skinsuits from a few seasons ago. somehow i fit into a size small, but I felt like an overstuffed Weisswurst for the rest of the day.



Last year's TT was my first one ever on my Hed TT bike and i really got to prove just how ugly my TTing skillz are. I finished with a time of 29:50. this year i was better about pacing myself and just stared at my heart rate the whole time and worked on keeping my cadence high. i was able to finish with a time of 28:57- about a minute faster. I'd like to cut another minute out of my time on the next TT and think that working on my position on the bike is really going to help. i definitely wasn't as aero as a could have been, although I'm sure the CJIA sticker on my helmet helped. Props to Patrick Littlefield for tearing it up on the TT with a time of 25:55 - especially after coming back from that ankle injury not too long ago. my teammate Mike Beckerman was able to snag 5th in the Cat 4 field, which was pretty impressive. The next TT I'm going to have to do will be at Fitchburg- I'm sure that'll be pretty hilarious...