Out with the road and in with the Cross

I've been going full throttle with racing since late march, and started to relax and taper a week or two ago. I was starting to feel constantly tired and burnt out, and ready for the road season to end. All those hours in the saddle had been starting to wear on me after training and racing for so long. Hence why I'm so looking forward to cyclocross season. I'm ready to relax. I'm ready to get out of the city every weekend, and get back into a scene thats a bit more relaxed and a bit more fun than the at-times tense and elitist road scene can be. It's fun as hell to go all out for 45 minutes, get extremely dirty, and then drink a beer and ring some cowbell. I'm so pumped i could poop myself. I'm in much better shape than last year, and my cross bike is just a bit more obnoxious than before. you might think the gold Chris king headset and carbon bars are ostentatious, but how else am i ever going to win a cross race?!?!?!?.

Two Weeks ago Bear Mountain was supposed to happen. I'm not going to say that i was praying for it to be canceled, but it really did make my weekend all the more pleasant... Any weekend where I'm not getting dropped on Tiorati is a good weekend to me...
Our team got together for an epic ride up to Cold Spring- north of Bear mountain. the weather was perfect, and after our normal combination of crashes/sprints/shit talking, we all ended up at a restaurant in Cold Spring, totally Bonked out. Bacon cheeseburgers never tasted so good. I couldn't remember the last "fun" ride i had been on- a ride without a training goal or mileage to prep for a race- it was great. everyone had a great time (including Ethan, who apparently has an asphalt fetish and loves to make out with it whenever he can)

This weekend was a weekend of transition- Friday was my 24th Birthday, and instead of getting wasted, i went to Le Bernardin for dinner and then rode in a cross race the next morning. Classy!

Chad and I headed over to Augusta (cyclocross capital of NJ) to hop some barriers and get dirty. They were giving away a Van Dessel to the person who won the hole shot, so the C field was quite a talented one. it was pretty funny seeing cat 2 and 3 roadies show up for a C race. Fun times nonetheless. The course was full of turns that went from grass to loose gravel in the middle of the turn, and they were particularly treacherous. as i was practicing, i completely slid out on one of the turns due to my tire pressure being too hi. I must've bent my derailleur hanger as well, because after five minutes my chain ended up in my spokes and i had a snapped spoke to deal with. fifteen minutes before the start.

i ripped the bad spoke out and got a crash course in re-truing wheels. given that i had never re-trued a wheel before i think i did a pretty good job...



The cross race started faaaaast. the Adler guys went off to do whatever adler guys do at the front of races (i haven't had the pleasure of being up there yet, but i hear the occasional act of man love happens during the sprint). I did my thing and focused on staying fluid and finding a good rhythm . I passed a few people during the race, and learned how to better deal with long off-camber sections (keep pedaling) the run up was fine and the course was sort of technical and tons of fun. Came in 13th out of about 44 starters. fine by me. I'm so ready for cross.




That being said, I rode this morning's CRCA race- it was the team finale- 2.5X team points. as our team was ahead, we wanted to keep the race aggressive and solidify our first place standing. The first lap alone was stupid fast, and people kept being aggressive. while our team didn't manage any solid results, kyle and i did mix it up in the sprint- i believe we were both top 15. Next time I'll try to avoid the guy that decides to stop sprinting in the middle of the field sprint (not naming names). Nevertheless I thought the race was really fun and I'm 90% sure we've retained our 1st place standing in the team cup.



This week is a great time to reflect on the past road season. Today's race marked the 1 yr anniversary of me bike racing. I still remember being terrified at the idea of being dropped during that first CRCA race, and was so proud of myself to not get dropped during that first race. over the year, I hooked up with a great team that really had alot to do with why i enjoyed racing so much this past year. the very fact that they put up with my obnoxious ramblings every time we ride is amazing in and of itself I love riding with them, and They're a big reason why i have so much fun doing all this.



I've ridden god-knows-how-many miles and spent too many hrs on the trainer at 5 am in the middle of the winter. I've lost 14 lbs since i started in January and upgraded to a cat 4. I'm looking forward to the next road season to see how i can improve and be a better racer. While we all sacrifice quite a bit of time (and money) to do this sport, i think its one of the best things in our lives. but then again i can only speak for myself.


Time to start training for cross. I'm going to start running stairs and also might take up this new fad called uh, jogging. I believe it's jogging or yogging. it might be a soft J. I'm not sure but apparently you just run for an extended period of time. It's supposed to be wild.



Peace out homies- time go to eat sausage and drink wayyyy too much beer.

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!

Surviving Owasco

I love out of town races. To be honest, it's one of my favorite parts of this whole racing thing. I think bike racers living in our lovely but crowded city take a little more from it than the average suburban dude. It's a change to get out of whatever borough you live in, see a little greenery, and enjoy some competition. Out of town races also seem to be more challenging since there's no telling who's going to show up.


I'm no climber, so why in the hell did i even think about doing Owasco??

Well, i think a big part of bike racing is challenging yourself. As a newly upgraded cat 4 with minimal climbing ability (ie: not skinny), I had no illusions of how I would do at Owasco. My goals were to survive the road race, not get a DNF, and do whatever I could in the crit.

Stage races are tough, especially with the Owasco format. a Time trial Sat morning followed by a 30 km crit a few hours later. you've got just enough time in between to eat something and maybe shut your eyes for a few. If that weren't bad enough, you've got a 55 mi road race the next day with 5000 ft of climbing, 3 KOM's and a few sprints in the middle. nasty.

I broke my time trialing Cherry that weekend, but did it cannibal style (curse you, FSA K-wing handlebars)- i didn't expect to do anything spectacular. Chad and I took some time to warm up, which I've been told is probably the most important part of doing well in a TT. does anyone have any good TT warm up routines?

I used the just-don't-come-in-last mentality (while i used alot when i started racing 'cross) and concentrated on keeping my cadence high and the HR up. note: dropping your chain 15 sec before starting is less than ideal. I probably shouldn't have sprinted in a panic to get up to speed.

I'm toying with the idea of building up a TT bike. Question for all 8 of my readers in internet land: When is it appropriate to get one? It seems like a ton of money to spend on something you dont use that often. I figure i can build one up for under 1500 bucks (keeping in mind that i have to use campy)



The crit was probably one of the most interesting ones i've seen (out of all three of them)- there was a sharper-than-90-degree turn just a few hundred feet from the finish line. the rest of the 1 km course was pretty smooth, with a rise on the back end followed by a sweeping descent right before the final turn. After waiting at the start for thirty minutes (can you say cold start?) I found the crit to be pretty fast and just tried to stay close to the front of the pack and not get dropped. I didn't want a three-peat of crit crashes after Harlem and New Britain. as much as i like Campagnolo, i didn't' want to further add to their earning by buying a 3rd set of chorus shifters in a month. noooo thanks. interesting fact: While the internals of campy shifters are rebuildable and repairable, the housing that encases them isnt. if you crack the part that holds the brake lever pivots, you're screwed.

The race went without a hitch- I finished in the pack with a few of my teammates (big ups to Chris Price for nabbing one of the preems), and was happy to not crash for once in a crit. Also a great time for a very pro team shot.



after the crit, I chugged down some chocolate milk and we went to drive the road race course. I was glad we did that- it allowed me to take in the great scenery, cause there wasn't a chance in hell i would be appreciating it while trying not to die the next day.


As the road race began, the peloton stuck together pretty well. the first ten miles of the race were rollers and not too tough. I found the road to be a bit narrow, which made it hard to move around with a full group. no matter. This was going to get ugly in just a few miles.

I must have said the phrase "Son of a bitch..." about 25 times during that whole race. Those hills sucked pretty hard. I came off the back about halfway up the first KOM. I regrouped at the top with a few teammates and some CRBC guys, and off we went with our little chase group. Working well in a chase group is one of my favorite parts of a long bike race. It's great to work together like that with guys from different teams that also have the same affliction of sucking at climbs.

The craziest part of this race had to be the weather. It went from cloudy to sunny to pouring to hailing to sunny, and kept going back and forth. The temperature was all over the place as well. It was a bit of a trip.

Murray Hill was so steep it that it seemed like a joke. I distinctly remember reading the following phrase in the race bible that ht organizers had put together:

"The race IS NOT designed to beat you
into submission. Given the hills we’ve selected along with the distances for each race category, everyone
will enjoy this year’s road stage which allows for adequate recovery between climbs."



Riiiight.


To be honest, I'm glad it was such a hard race event. I was a hell of a challenge, and I had a great time in the process. Definitely one of my favorite race events this season. I'll be back next year for more punishment, and maybe a higher GC spot than 56th place.

Props to my Teammate Rob, Who did well in the road race, sticking with the 1'st chase group and doing well enough to hit up 26th in the GC, even with going cannibal on the TT.

Looking ahead, I'm pretty damn excited about cyclocross season being around the corner. My obnoxious green bike and I are ready to go, and what better place to kick off 'cross season than at the New Jersey State fair?!

Saturday night Fever
a 'cross race.
on saturday night.
in a demolition derby arena.

It's pretty fitting that this is taking place during a new jersey state fair, and I'm thinking it'll be even more fun after a few brewskis

Are performance -detracting drugs prohibited by WADA?

I kid!

Flame on! Upgrades, Points Races and NYVC Love/Hate

What a busy week it's been. After Last week's CRCA C-race antics and it being my 10th race, I decided to upgrade. My teammates/coaches had been giving me crap about it over the past couple of weeks, so I guess this'll get them off my backs. Well, I'm now part of the proud tradition of Cat 4 mediocrity! I'm excited to see the new challenges that will come with a higher category, and hopefully there will be less crashes.

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ nyvelocity.com

I raced in my first CRCA B race this past weekend. It was a 7-lap points race, with points at harlem hill on laps 2, 4, 6, and the finish. I found the race to be tougher than the C races (duh,) partly because it was longer, and partly because everyone's in better shape. Moves are harder to make- people react. Teams are more cohesive. It makes it more challenging. I like it.

Puttering out in the final sprint- courtesy of Andy Shen @ nyvelocity.com

I wasn't able to pull any sprint points off this time, although i came close on lap 2 with 4th across the line (which equals zero points for yours truly.) I had a good position for the final sprint, but my leadout started a bit too early, and i couldn't keep the sprint up long enough. Leave it to a sprinter to blame his lead out! there's always an excuse! I've also got to remember to use smaller gears in the sprints- leg speed is what its all about. That's what I love about cycling- you can always blame something/someone in order to preserve your fragile, spandex clad ego!

I was happy to be mixing it up in the race, and our team rode aggressively. Big ups to the Settanta boys, who pulled off a 1-2-3 finish at the line, and Ave A/razorfish rode a good race as well. It was also great to not have the customary final lap crash like we normally did in cat 5 races. I'm excited to see how things go for the rest of the season.

My upgrade to chubby cat 4 also allows me to take part in all 3 stages at Owasco in two weeks. (is that Littlefield doing "blue steel" on the website??) I'm excited for this event- it'll be my first stage race. I'm planning on "Canniballing" the TT, since my bars aren't clip-on compatible and I don't have Deep Carbon Rims (although that would be nice...). I might replace my k-wings eventually with some carbon bars that have a more traditional bend and are clip on compatible... I'm super excited to be doing the Crit at Owasco- I enjoyed the experience @ Harlem (even with the crash), and think it'll suite my type of riding. However, I'm a bit wary of how 3 races in 3 days will affect me- does anyone have any exp with stage races? Any tips on recovering between stages? Right now I'm thinking it's all about the Massage stick, Steak, and Beer (half kidding, that's for after the 3rd stage!)

It also looks like i briefly made it onto the Hangover spotlight on NYVC.com - who know that a chubby cat 4/5 writing about his racing & training could cause so much vitriol?!? It's pretty hilarious. Either way, a bunch of people said they love the blog, and I've gotten mucho support for it since I've started. So kudos to you, my friends- I'm glad that people enjoy this. I figure there's many people just getting into racing these days at an amateur level, and It's fun to document these shared experiences. (it also keeps my ego nice and inflated!) Getting some Hate on the NYVC msg board is almost a rite of passage- and frankly it's pretty funny.

Above: Me submitting another blog post onto NYVC.com

Went for a 4th of July Ride with Bill$$, Richard and some of his magazine buddies. Good times up to Piermont. Good muffins. Highlight of the ride- watching a guy going up alpine road (the climb up to the police station)- he ATTACKS at the base, giving it his all. His upper body is swaying so much that he looks like he's dancing at a Euro Club. I provided the soundtrack and off he danced. Too bad he died halfway up the hill.

I'm probably racing the New Britain Criterium next Sunday. should be good times if a bunch of us go. anyone else doing this one? how was it last year?

I have an idea for a ride... Let's call it "Jan's night out." Everyone shows up wearing pink T-mobile kits and one earring. We proceed to go to a German restaurant (think Heidelberg), Stuff ourselves with Sausage, Schnitzel & Beer, and then try and race 1 lap in the park. Winner gets a Jelly donut. Bonus points if you do it while on Ecstasy. Who's in??

Happy 4th of July. Go drink some beer and have fun. Don't blow your hands off lighting M-80's!