Rollin on DUBS

I wouldn't call myself a "fanboy" of too many things (George Hincapie, Bacon, and Jeff King notwithstanding...), but when a rare opportunity comes to ride with the big boys, you sure as hell take it. Plus, I needed an excuse to take off of work today and make it a three day weekend.

If you don't already know, Sunday is the Harlem Crit. If you're in the city and you race, you should sure as hell be racing it. If you don't race but like to check out cool sporting events, you should sure as hell be watching. This year the race is being promoted by John Eustice and sponsored by Michael Ball and Rock Racing. With people Like Ball involved, it 's sure to be an awesome event that's full of action. and hot podium girls.


Somehow our coach Alex got in touch with John Eustice and got us an opportunity to go for a ride with Fast Freddie, Michael Ball, and the rest of the Rock Racing crew. What better excuse to take a day off???


we all got together at tavern and eventually few of the Rock racing guys rolled up. about 30 teammates and bike racing peers skipped work to go for a ride with these guys, and off we went. The Rock racing guys were really approachable and everyone got a chance to shoot the shit with them. I think the average cat 4 racer dreams of a chance to casually ride with someone like Freddie Rodriguez and nonchalantly engage in generic bike-banter. you want to talk and act like its totally normal and no big deal, but then the minute they ride off, you squeal like a girl and almost pee your pants. you know who you are.



Actually, my teammate and local Tech-dork Michael Beckerman proceeded to query all of the Rock racing teammates on their max wattages. he'll be publishing his findings shortly. I was more concerned about how much bacon each of them manages to get in their diet. (not enough)




After one or two laps a few more characters rolled up. All of a sudden Michael Ball is riding with us, along with a few more rock racers, Ivan Dominguez, and Garcia from Toyota-United. It was a super-ultra-mega-meta-hyper pantheon of awesomeness. the ride started getting a little faster at points, with some of the overzealous CRCA guys (cough, cough, Colin P) wanting to sprint up Harlem hill with Freddy. That was pretty funny to watch, as it was probably the most patronizing sprint I've ever seen anyone perform...



All of the Rock racing guys are super-pumped for this weekend, and rightfully so. As fun as Harlem was last year, this year is going to donkey punch it right out of the park. Crits like the Harlem race are Perfect venues to bring spectators back to cycling, which is what it needs. The average Joe six-pack on the street doesn't know how exciting a bike race can be to watch, and this is the perfect opportunity to show the general public why we do what we do. the Harlem Crit is going to be the Epitome of fast, furious (and probably crash-filled) bike racing. people are going to want face-time on the Jumbo-tron, and the attacks are going to be nonstop. It's going to be one of the hardest 30-minute races of the season. I'm so pumped for it i could pee myself (but i won't).



After four laps, we stopped by tavern and the Photo/autograph/butt kissing session began. The guys were really cool with being swarmed by men in tights, and once we got it out of our system, we said our thank yous and goodbyes. And then like magic, the Rock Racing Escalades Rolled in on 'dubs and whisked them away. too cool.



Love him or hate him, Michael Ball is doing great things for our sport. He's bringing it back into the public spotlight in a way that no one has the balls to. He's also also a master at bringing back the "rock" hand symbol. I miss using the "Rock" symbol, and frankly, the hand symbol i've been using as a substitute has been pissing some of my friends off and messing up family photos...



Sure he's a bit controversial, and challenging the status quo is bound to attract some haters. I think those people should wait until Sunday to cast judgment. It's going to be awesome.



After a fantastic day of riding with pros and not going to work, I was so overcome with joy that I whipped out the hula hoop that i keep with me at all times and put it to good use. It's a good thing I'm prepared for such situations.




See you on Sunday.

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...

I can almost taste it...

Do you remember when you started training this season? For me it started back in mid January- and i had a solid month and a half of spewing buckets of sweat indoors as i begrudgingly did workouts and dieted to get ready for the season. by the time late February came around, I couldn't even look at my trainer without wanting to put a steak knife in my eye. I was also a little too willing to endure frostbitten appendages just to ride my bike outside in Feb.

Fast forward a few months, and the good weather's finally here! that means two things: not racing in crappy weather, and Barbecues. There's really nothing better than killing yourself for a few hours on a bike and then heading to someone's roof to pig out for a few hours. Maybe that's the main reason i train and race like i do- so i can compensate for the delicious, delicious food that i shovel down my gullet on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. it's pretty glorious...

Saturday was a CRCA scratch race in Central park. I'm just glad we didn't have to do a Super-duper-extreme-ultra-power-points race like the A-field. I heard it was pretty brutal, and I'd like to take this moment to rub in that it's so much more fun to race when all you have to do is roll out of bed and ride 6 blocks to the start line.

photo courtesy of bob cowin

The race was 6 laps, and started out pretty fast. the game plan for this race was pretty loose. a bunch of my teammates were eager to attack, and so were a few other teams. I decided to re-adopt the ever-so intelligent (lazy), and opportunistic strategy of DNWTTFS (do no work till the field sprint) I like that strategy. The only problem with doing that is it's harder for Andy Shen to get a good photo of you, and really, that's half the reason why i race. And' don't you go and get all indignant about my admitted (unfounded) narcissism- i know that all of you rush home after the race and hit refresh on NYVC.com until the photos are up...

photo courtesy of bob cowin

Anyway, there were a bunch of attacks during the race, and the field was definitely not as complacent as past races. I was happy about that, 'cause i was in the mood for a good field sprint. There were a few crashes in the race, a couple of OA guys touched wheels and went down right after cats paw (hope they're ok)- i was lucky enough to not actually be behind the guys that crash (as i normally am), and kept going- two of our teammates got caught up in it and killed themselves trying to catch back on. i had to do that at the last park race after the massive crash took out the entire B field. not fun.

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

Mattattack and Alvin both attempted some solo breaks, but nothin stuck. either way, those two are strong as hell, and its only going to get better as the season goes by. As we got into the last lap, i kept a lookout for my teammate greg. he's been racing smart all season and offered to escort me to the finish line. as we zoomed down the west side just past the reservoir, i noticed i had a pretty crappy position, so i weaved my way to the front and waited for greg to find me. i was alot better about not sucking wind in the last mile and a half of this race, and i think it made a big difference. as the pack sped up cat's paw for the field sprint, I stuck to greg's wheel like a frat boy doing an elephant walk (not really). we came up pretty fast along the left side of the road, and went for it with about 500 feet to go.

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

Kimani was about a bike length ahead of me and easily took first (nice one!), but the podium was pretty close otherwise- i threw my bike (so pro) and just barely got third. it was a great finish to the race and i don't think there were any crashes in the finish ( i could be wrong)

photo courtesy of Andy Shen @ velocitynation.com

third! third. third.... bacon?

no.

well, it's my best result of the season so far, and i'm pretty happy with it, so i celebrated by shooting cupcakes, drinking some awesome beer, eating some insanely alcoholic rummed-up Watermelon, and laughing with friends at a rooftop BBQ.



I'm getting close. The bacon will be mine. should i start bringing some strips of bacon with me to races or is that a bit presumptuous? It's gotten to the point where all my wonderful teammates feel the need to rub it in and tell me when they smell, see, or eat bacon. Thanks, a-hole, I'm already drooling...

Big 'uns

I've been accused of being a bit of a delinquent in updating this blog, So i guess I should get back to posting more regularly...

The last month of racing has been a blast, and some big races came and went. Quick recap:

Battenkill

epic race. held on on the first climb. bonked. drank from dropped bottles i found on the way. no bacon.

Jiminy

Wet, fast, fun- 55 mph downhills? yes please! finished with the pack. felt good, but still no bacon. I really like this course. our team raced well and we were all pretty active in the race. I tried to go for it on the second lap, which was hilariously ineffective. the last section of the course involves going through a chicane, and its essential to have a good position going through it. i was well positioned, but the climb to the finish didn't suite me that well- it was a longer finishing effort than i'm used to. The race was really well run, and to my surprise, there weren't any crashes in the main cat 4 pack! I'm going to target this race next year, because like Schmalz, I too want one of those goddamn mugs!

Bear.

As my padded ass is still intimidated by actually racing bear, i decided to do what I did last year and signed up to marshal. However, last year i got a little over-zealous with the liquid carbo-loading, threw up, and woke up at 2 PM on race day. so pro.


This year, i one-upped myself and actually made it to the race! I ended up being in the passenger seat of the men's 40+ race. It was fun to be in a pace car and see the action unfold, but we had to deal with the joy of passing other fields, being passed by said field, and then passing the same field again. tons of fun. The weather was really nice this year at bear, and it made for a beautiful race day. after the pacing duty was done, i headed over to the feed zone to help keep my teammates who were in the race from bonking. It looked like a pretty brutal race. I think bear is a great example of how circumstance end external events play into racing. you can train all you want, you can follow your coach's training plan to the T, but come race day, you can flat, you can bonk, you can get caught up in a crash, or a wealth of other circumstances beyond your control can get in your way. those variables are what bring variety and drama to what we do. it makes road racing more interesting than something like a track event, because there's so many other forces at play. sure, its not as pure as two trackies racing it out- but those external events and circumstances are what make races like Paris-Roubaix and Battenkill so interesting. Hell, maybe this fall I'll actually sign up to race @ bear...

Now that bear has passed, there's a bit of a lull. I've decided that 2008 is the year of decisions that I'll immediately regret, which is why i signed up for Fitchburg and will also be doing GMSR. wahoo!

This weekend i didn't race. I had to head up to new Paltz for a teammate's wedding. As part of the bachelor party festivities, we met up with my buddy Jason to go mountain biking through the local trails. (trust me, you do NOT want to go to the strip clubs in New Paltz, unless you've got a stretch mark fetish). He helps out at an awesome local shop there, and we rented some sweet bikes and headed for some trails.



Mountain biking was insanely fun. almost pooped myself out of sheer excitement. the weather was perfect, and Jason took us through some great trails. extra bonus- Chad didn't get impaled on any tree stumps, and showed up to the wedding relatively unharmed. i was really hoping i wouldn't like mountain biking, because i am NOT going to get into yet another form of cycling- i need another bike like i need a hole in the head. five is enough, goddammit! I'll definitely be making another trip up to new Paltz for more riding though. plus, the brewery we checked out after has awesome beer. bonus.

This weekend also marks the unofficial start of the BBQ season- there's nothing better than riding a ton in great weather and then undoing all the riding by engorging yourself on various meat products (aka croatian recovery) afterwards. there were two this weekend, and they both were fantastic- I'm really getting used to going to BBQ's after every ride- this could be a bad thing...



even with all this BBQing, i must be losing a buttload of weight. why, just this week i was able to fit into this women's XS jersey- swear to god. well there you go, i'm a cross dresser now.

CRCA race next weekend. bacon forecast- definitely possible.

Back to it

Holy Crap, the racing season's been going on for a month now! Time's really been flying, and I've been slacking off in writing about my triumphant mediocrity in the for of big, bad cat 4 racing...

the Rouge Roubaix was exactly what i needed to kick start the season- it was a bit of a shock to the system to do a race that long, but i think that doing a crazy, big race early in the season is a great way to set the tone for future races and the rest of the year. Sure, it might be a little stupid to have your first race be a 100 mile suffer-fest in a place you've never ridden before, but hey, it was fun. Go big or go home .

Including the roubaix, I'm about 4 races into the season. Here's a quick rundown of how they've gone so far:



Grant's tomb was a week after I got back from Lousiana so I figured why not. For yours truly, Grant's tomb was a "try not to die while riding in an early season cat 4 crit" sort of race. I've had the fantastic luck of crashing in about half the crits I've done- apparently i really love riding right behind that one guy who thinks taking a normal, 90 degree turn involves making out with the pavement.

That being said, Grant's tomb turned out to be a fun, intense race. The weather was infinitely better than last year (which was canceled), and it was about 50 degrees outside when we started the race. By the way, racing at 2 pm? Fantastic. races are that much more fun when you can see outside and you aren't freezing your huevos off...

my goals for grants tomb were to um, not crash, to stay in the pack, and to get my picture taken as much as possible- here's a great shot of myself and fellow blogger Brian Gatens (pre-shattered collarbone- more on that later)



The race was definitely tough, and i think everyone was quickly reminded how painful and intense crits are. my HR didn't go below 185 the whole time. I finished with the pack- happy that i hadn't been dropped. It definitely pays to stay near the front of the pack in a crit, and i'll definitely remember that for next time. staying in the middle means you deal with the yo-yo effect every time you come up to a turn. Anyway, the 4 race was fun, and minus a few close calls, it was relatively safe (minus the finish line debacle involving one guy and a whole set of guard rails...

After GT, the two following races have been CRCA races, which have been a ton of fun. I really enjoy the park races because you start to learn who everyone is and what they tend to do in race situations. We've definitely been trying to be more active from a strategy perspective, and I think it's made for more fun and more dynamic racing.



The race on March 29th was interesting, to say the least. People started attacking, and eventually i goaded one of our newer teammates, Zack, into attacking. It ended up sticking and eventually a 12 man break (including Mr. Gatens), was about 45 seconds ahead of the field. because we had a guy up there, we did our best to control the field. except for the Metro guys and some unattached racers, everyone had someone in the break, so that discouraged the field from attacking too much. That being said, the Metro guys wanted in and were attacking fairly constantly. I was going to sit my ass in the back until the end but decided to help out in chasing those guys down. not sure if that was the smart move, but i figured I'd mix it up and have a little fun.


By the end of the race, the break started falling apart, because we caught sight of them with less than a mile to go at the finish- the field sprint pretty much overtook the break right before the finish, which made for quite the cluster fuck... I had a decent position going in, and as i started sprinting, i saw bunch of guys (Gatens was one of them) go down right in front of me, and had to swerve around them. I snuck into top 10 with an 8th place finish, and that was that. unfortunately Brian ended up breaking his collarbone in 4 places and breaking a rib or two. Brian, I hope you're feeling ok and healing quickly!

photo courtest of andy shen

Last week's race was pretty fun- the weather was 50 degrees and wet- it made for a pretty dirty race experience. I really like racing in crappy conditions, by the way. it makes it all the more satisfying on some level

during the race, people tried to make moves, and we were making an effort to attack and set up counters- but non of the breaks seemed to stick.. The end was a pretty standard field sprint finish, and I had a good position going in. It was a cat's paw finish, and I started my sprint too early. I ended up getting 6th, but i think i could have done better if i had tacked on someone's wheel for a little longer and waited to unleash the fury from my buttery thighs....



Ah well, At least Bill showed up to take awesome pictures and fuel my unfounded narcissism....



Saturday is a Points race- I'm looking forward to it- it's a fun race format and it'll be fun to see how it plays out. All I know is that I'm a month into my Bacon Strike, and i'm really in need of some delicious, crispy, applewood smoked pork product, asap. The minute i win one of these races, I'm running to a deli and ordering an obscene amount of bacon. I'll stuff it in my back jersey pocket and just eat it on the way up to Piermont. I'll dip it in my coffee, wrap my bunbury muffin in it, and use it as a boot in my tire if i rip my sidewall... why is bacon so delicious??


After the weekend I'll be tapering for Battenkill. This is one of my favorite races and I'm hoping to really push it and do well- it's going to be a big, talented field up there, and it's going to be an epic race. What's going to happen? who will win? will adler ride a smart race? will some anonymous Upstate hardman win? Will CJIA every get to eat bacon again? I'm also hoping for nasty weather so that the course favors people who know how to climb up muddy crap (cyclocrossers). I'm also lookin forward to chugging some chimay blue at the end of that.

Oh, and we just got our new team bikes. They're pretty hot.


Cyfac and cadence did a bang up job of getting these together, and Ostroy, Matt richards, and David Trumph did a really nice job with the design. so pro! (if by pro you mean being mediocre but owning all the equipment that someone who gets paid to race uses)