Recent Race Recaps

Scarborough Time Trial Recap (from my point of view)
BF decided he wanted to try a time trial this year so we picked this one based on the fairly flat nature of the course.
My riding style can best be described as fast downhill with a tendency to be strong on the flats and watch the pack float by me uphill so Crit was telling me all week that I would beat him in this time trial....I almost began to believe it until we did our warm up and I realized that there where just enough hills to slow me down and alas the laws of gravity still applied. BTW when good climbers tell you a course is flat you always have to remember flat is a relative term.

I was 2nd off the line and Crit was 5th giving me a 1:30 gap. I felt ok through the race and was quite excited when I was coming up to the finish line that Crit hadn't passed me yet but then that ominous sound of a rider gaining on me came with 30 meters left to the line (to be clear it was an uphill finish) and I just knew it was Crit. He nipped me at the line to beat me by an even 1:30 but that isn't even the best part. In his infinite kindness Liam bought me a mug with the picture of him over my left shoulder about 60 meters short of the line to commemorate the occasion. You know because that's what are friends are for. BF did well in his first time trial and we all look forward to not doing another TT until next year!

Auburn Lake Recap (from my point of view)
I knew going in this was not a race course suited for my current riding style...this horse is not for that course but was excited to give it my best. As we are driving up and and up and up to get to the start I looked at Crit and said "I know you were sitting there one day saying who can I get to do this race with me and said "homey isn't that bright he will do it"."

Warmup: Hey this course is great it goes down a big....what is that huge cliff in front of me? That is the road?

Lap 1: Started out near the front and no one seemed exited to push the pace up the cliff so it wasn't too bad. I sat in and watched the mayhem that always ensues in a Cat 5 race including lots of yelling at one rider in a yellow jersey who seemed intent on crashing the pack. Hung on throught the finishing hills.

Lap 2: OUCH--just dropped on the cliff, spent the next 2 miles chasing but grabbed back on. I hung on until the last few hills at the end of the lap.

Lap 3: Double OUCH--worked with 4 others to get in...did a a lot of pulling but that was ok.

29th place finish (same time as 27th) isn't bad out of 50 and I look forward to keeping up with the main pack next year.

Bianchi, Klein or Javelin...the bike saga continues

I am in the blue and grey and that is Kelly and Sam cheering me on.

I will try to keep this short.

New bike, old bike?

• Bought a Javelin Torgiano on eBay from a guy with a 100% approval rating. That was a week and a half ago and he hasn't shipped it yet. He claims he has been in the hospital for emergency wisdom tooth surgery...really for a week and a half? Did he swallow his teeth and somehow they magically found their way to his heart? BTW he bought something on eBay on April 3rd yet can't reply to me regarding shipping? I asked for a refund or a shipping confirmation #. At this point I can not decide which one I prefer.
  
• Rode my Klein in my first crit race in 5 years on Sunday. My right shifter is FUBAR! I rode the crit using my bike as a single speed which was fine until it was time to sprint. I did however finish 9th out of 20 people and had no problem staying with the lead pack. Of course this is the flattest crit course in the world so that works out well for me.
  
• Now I am stuck...I don't want to fix the Klein if the Javelin is actually going to be shipped. On top of that it is as expensive to get 9 speed gear now vs. 10 speed gear. Is this the time to drop $450 on my bike and upgrade to 10 speed?
• What to do in the meantime.

Tuesday Night on my wife's Bianchi---no that is not a euphemism for anything!

• So at this point my bike is out of commission and the Javelin is in limbo but I can't stop riding. In comes the Bianchi...all 55 CM of it. Yup the bike that fits my wife perfectly is the current bike I am riding.
• Fat man on a little bike!
  
• Critracer said from the back it looks ok from the side it is pretty freaking funny.
• But here is what I learned. A nice 10 speed gruppo is amazing. The gruppo on my bike is at least 8 years old and when I ask it to shift it usually argues with me, thinks about, does some sightseeing and then shifts 2 gears instead of one.
  
• The Bianchi is a sweet bike and really fast. Even though it weighs in at 2 pounds heavier than mine the smooth ride and quality shifting more than makes up for it.
• We rode 21.6 miles at an average of 18.8 mph. Here are the highlights:
• I fixed the seat height on the Bianchi but forgot that the handlebars were twisted way forward from a ride last year when my wife found a ginormous pothole. So Crit and I stopped with 1 other person to fix that...we heard yelling from the pack about slowing up to wait for us but it was still 3 miles of timetrialing back to them.
• Cruised through the next few miles chasing down a couple of breaks and working a little bit.
• Crossed Rt 1 (didn't realize at the time) and headed towards the water. I am having a blast sitting in not working much and decided it was time to take a pull. At that very moment I look up and realize where we are...about to climb a 1-2 mile long hill!
• I ended up in no mans land by the top of the hill...100 meters behind the lead pack and 100 meters in front of the 2 stragglers. I chased all the way down the hill and was about to sit up when I realized the pack had finally decided to wait for the rest of us.
• Had a blast on the leg home, flying up Ferry Rd and trying to keep up with the fast people.
• All in all a great ride and I love the Bianchi!

The best part...looks like I will ride the Bianchi for at least the next few rides including the Easter Sunday Crit race. Fat Man on a little bike!

Back at it

Wow I just realized it has been since October that I added a post here. I will summarize the winter and then move onto spring.

Winter:

• Cold but couldn't complain as it was our choice to move back to Maine from Miami.

• Parking sucks as we have a nut job neighbor who doesn't know how to drive. Oh well just more motivation to buy a house with a garage.
• Got fat and lazy. Wait...I got fatter and lazier.
• Really enjoyed being able to host my family for Christmas and had a blast seeing the Grover's and Humphrey's just after Christmas.
• Still employed and actually selling some professional services, not as much as I nor my company would like but survival is the key.
• Joined a really nice gym, went a few time and took a few spinning (xbike) classes. Not enough but better than nothing.
• Got a kick ass 16GB Nano from wife. What a cool iPod!
• Drank Geary's beer, hung out in Portland with Dale, Josh and Courtney.
• Played poker 5 times and finished up 3 out of the 5 including 2 wins.
• I still love my wife and have had a blast being back in Portland with her.
  
• Missed seeing the Hendersfhegs every month!
• I got to see my nephew a few times. He is growing and maturing before our eyes. Martial arts is good for him whether he likes it or not.
• Crit and his Fiance chose me to be their best man! I am flattered and excited. (well except for having to deal with Crit's crazy friends. How is it one fairly normal person has such a variety of freaks for friends)
  
• That is about it.

Spring:

• It is still cold here but still not able to complain cause of the whole our choice to move here thing. (there is a one year moratorium on complaining so expect lots of whining next winter)
• Got back on the bike early this year. Why? See fatter and lazier from the winter.
• I have rode 160 miles already and averaged about 18 for those miles. All the rides have been with Crit who is a great motivator. Seeing as he is barely working he has plenty of wind to yell at me to pull and I have been called a mule at least 10 times already.
  
• I have had to stand in the shower for at least 10 minutes to warm my feet up 3 times already but still not complaining that it is cold. Just stating a fact.
• Goals; get my strength/watts back, practice increasing my cadence and lose weight.
• This whole cadence thing is hard for me. I know all the "Experts" say you should spin between 85 and 95 for maximum efficiency but I am much more comfortable at 80. I feel like I am going to spin my legs completely out of my hips. The worse part is Crit would still be yelling for me to pull.
• I am doing the spring Scarborough Crit Race series. The first race is April 5th. I am going into these not looking to win just looking to survive.
• BF, Crit and I are climbing Cadillac again on Memorial Day Weekend. Hendersfheg might even show up and Slim knows about it but I have to imagine it would be hard to tow 2 kids up the mountain behind your bike. My goal is to break 20:30.
• Still employed.
• Still love my wife.
• Still drinking Geary's. (hmmm is there a correlation there with the whole fat thing? NAAHHHHHH)
  
• That is about it.

OK let's be honest about why I am riding. BigFoot has dropped from 235 to 205 and spent $10k on a bike. I can NOT lose to him on the bike. I would have to give up cycling and I really don't want to. I would have to chop off a leg and that would really suck. I must say I am happy for BF and he has really motivated me.

Now we just have to get Slim on the bike....Tour de Cure is June 7th.

Cadillac Mountain Ride

BF, Crit and I are in Bar Harbor this weekend with our significant others. The three guys headed out yesterday morning to bike the Park Loop Road and bike up Cadillac. We usually stay at the Wonderview where the ride to the base is only 4 miles but this year we rented a house and due to some navigation issues we ended up riding 17 miles around the Park Loop Road to the base of Cadillac.

The three of us rode up Cadillac 4 years ago with Crit going up in 19:47, I went up in just over 24 and BF went up in about 30. All of our goals this year were to beat our previous times and be within 3:30 of each other.

We headed out in 2 minutes gaps with BF first, me second and Crit chasing both of us. I had a clear plan in place, go out easy and push as high as a gear as possible on the flats to leave me with easier gears to spin around the steep switch backs.

One of the reasons I need to go out easy is the 2nd to last left hand switch back always confuses me so for about 1/4 of a mile I think that is the last switch back. Unfortunately there is a sweeping right hand turn and a long hard climb to the last switch back. That is why my plan was ride out as easy as possible and leave some gas for the last 1 mile. I did this and of course the switch back still confused me at first but only for about 100 meters this time.

I went out a little hard for the first 500 meters and then backed off. I settled into a good rhythm and tried to focus on being in my 22 and 23 as much as possible so I could spin in my 25 on the steepest parts. Of course for half the ride I was cross eyed and praying someone would just tell me it was over but that didn't happen. I passed BF about a mile in standing on the side of road. He didn't have it but at least he was out there trying. Cadillac is definitely as much mental as physical!

My plan worked out well as I crossed the line in 20:50 and Crit never caught me. He had actually started about 2:30 behind me. He did post a personal best as well at 19:27. I was pretty happy to beat my personal best by over 3 minutes. I am not sure what happened except I had a different strategy, cooler weather and we rode at the end of the season instead of the beginning but I suspect a lot of it has to do with just having a good day. I wasn't even tired cycling up to the base even though there is a ton of climbing.

I am now convinced if I ride Cadillac at 195 I can break 20 and Crit is convinced he go under 19. BF is convinced that if he loses 25 pounds and has his new Serotta he will make it to the top.

Good times.

Does 1 person make a B ride?

I did 37 miles with BBB last night. There were about 30 people on the ride. I hadn't been on a fast group ride in 3 weeks and it felt like it but the weather was great.

I was fine until we hit Range Road which is a series of rollers and bad pavement. I was dropped off the main pack but still managed to beat 4 or 5 people to the fair grounds where we all re-group. My breathing was ok, not 100% but certainly better. My legs were not ready for it though.

Right after we stop there is a sizable hill and I got dropped again, I chased on over about 3 miles and got to sit in for 4 or 5 miles before Dutton Hill Rd. As the road name suggests yeah it is just a big hill. It sucked and I came over the top last. One of the most annoying things on these rides is when you see a person (man or woman) who can not weigh more than 120 pounds fly up these hills like they are not even trying. Damn skinny people! No offense Slim and Crit.

Everything was fine on the way back. We were on Blackstrap Rd when a car decided to pass the pack. Unfortunately they didn't accelerate much and all of the sudden they saw a truck coming. Instead of braking and pullling in behind us they braked just enough to not get by the pack. The truck had to pull in the ditch. At this point I backed off and let the pack go as the car was still sitting in the other lane and I could see 2 more cars coming down the hill. I was pretty sure someone was going to get hurt. All of the sudden I realized I was stuck in between the main pack and 4 or 5 people 50 meters behind me. The car in the left hand land continued to force the other cars off the road. Why not accelerate and get in front of us or simply brake and get behind us.

So there I am going up Blackstrap all alone. 50 meters behind the pack and 50 meters in front of the other pack. ARRRFFFF

I tried to chase on but in the end had to let the other riders catch me. Thankfully once we were over the hill I could pull the other riders back but apparently they didn't share my desire to bomb the hills at 40 mph to try and chase back on so I was constantly riding alone unless I decided to wait for the others.

All in all a good ride. I am hoping that this ride gets me ready for Saturday morning.

BTW I am hoping to get a cycling computer for my birthday so I can start giving good stats for these rides.

Long overdue update

So I haven't posted in awhile and I thought I would simply recap my past months activities.

BW New Bike

The beautiful wife got an awesome road bike! The picture doesn't do it justice. All carbon fiber except for a carbon fiber/alu mix on the fork. It is in great shape and all we needed to replace right away was the saddle. Thank you EBAY! She also picked up a pair of Sidi 5.5's which are top of the line women's cycling shoes and a great helmet. Sadly though she is wearing one of my old SMCC jerseys.

We have been riding quite a few times (she went out with BF once when I broke my chain as well) and she is now over 100 miles with her longest ride being last nights 30 miler. We averaged 17 with some nice rollers and some long but not too steep hills. She is already getting strong and becoming more comfortable. I have even stopped looking back at every stop sign petrified she will not be able to clip out and hurt herself. The first couple rides were pretty stressful! I enjoy riding with her and the added miles is great for me. Here are the parts we will most likely change this winter:

Carbon handlebars with flat tops

Wheels--perhaps she will get the Rolf's and I will get new wheels this might have to wait but her current wheels are bricks

Rear Cassette--she is riding an 11-23 so we will either get her an 11-27 or a 12-25. This is a must change and will most likely happen before we go to Bar Harbor for Columbus Day weekend.

I would like her to be on a sub 19 lbs bike and these changes would probably get her closer to 18.5.

My Rides

I was sick/had allergies for a whole week almost a month ago now and it has been affecting my breathing ever since. I was dropped a few Saturday's ago and not even during a hard part of the ride. I literally couldn't catch my breath and my chest hurt, not heart attack hurt though. I could breath in fine but couldn't expel my breath normally. I then rode on a Thursday and after pulling over at one point to expel every piece of phlegm I had in my system I felt much better but my breathing still was not right. I stayed with the A ride all the way back and we were flying at between 22 to 38 even up the hills but I think that was simply adrenaline. It is much easier to ride when you can breath. I finally went to the doctor and they have me on a 30 day regimen of Claritin and an albuterol inhaler to see if I can get rid of the crap in my chest. It isn't bronchitis or anything like that so hopefully this will solve the issue. The good Dr. also thinks that all of my post nasal drip, vomiting issues are caused by allergies I have never dealt with. I hope she is right.

The results so far have been good but I have not pushed it extremely hard since I went to see the DR. last Thursday. This Thursday and Saturday will be the real tests as I am doing the BBB A ride and the SMCC Saturday ride with Critracer. I hope that I can breath this time!

My Bike

First of all I need to admit once and for all that I am jealous of my BW's nice new Bianchi! It is a great bike. So I immediately started researching new bikes for myself. I now know I want the Kuota Khan. I can not get a better picture of it off the Kuota site as it all Flash. Who knows if I will get one but at least I know what I want. It is designed to handle larger bikers who throw down the watts but don't necessarily compete in the sprints. All I know is it is really cool looking and super light!

In the meantime I have added FSA K-Force Carbon Cranks and a new FSA BB, a new Ultegra chain and front der. So now when I shift or have to get out of the saddle to climb hills my bike doesn't complain loudly like it is about to explode. I have also ordered new bearings for my Rolf Prima Vigor front wheel. It now looks like instead of buying a new bike/frame this winter I will probably invest in moving all my parts to 10 speed which would mean a new rear der, cassette and shifters. With all that being done my bike will weigh in at just under 18 lbs. Not bad at all for a nearly 10 year old Klein frame.

Poker

I have only played once since my last poker blog and here is a great summary:

Had terrible cards all night, made it to the final table without winning a hand as I only played in 3 hands. Won a few hands, got busted out due to a better kicker and went home. It was actually one of the most boring poker games I have played except for TBO breaking his hand when he punched the wall. That was fun....for me. I feel bad for the wall though.

Outside of that just working, camping once with BF, LF, Slim and family which was great. BF even brought Opus X's for the 3 of us to smoke. Good times!

I have cycling, poker, taking care of Sam and my fantasy football draft in the next week. I am excited for all of it.

SMCC Saturday Ride

Crit and I both had to start from the school on Highland as he had to be at Funtown with his son at 10 and my BW and I had to meet Captain Dale at Lost Shaker of Salt II by 11. This removes the neutral sections of the ride but also to my benefit removes the annoying little hill from Broadway to Highland.

I felt pretty good that morning but Crit said he felt like he had a rock in his stomach and his legs were tired. Could have been left over from the rainy ride on Thursday. I wish I could ride as strong as he does when I feel like crap.

We jumped into the group at about 27 miles an hour. Nice way to wake up your legs. Things went pretty smoothly outside of the random guy who showed up with a backpack and a bike pump sticking out of the pack. The first time he went through in the pace line he just sat up until someone yelled for him to pull through. This would be a recurring theme.

I felt good and took my turns in the pace line as we headed to Blackpoint. Crit took a flier off the front about 1 mile before the fire station hoping to catch people by surprise. He did as he quickly jumped out to about a 30 meter lead, unfortunately for him there was a fire truck in the middle of road stopping traffic so that break was for not. For some reason he decided to break again right after this but two guys went with him meaning I had to bridge the 15 to 20 meters so he wasn't on his own. Once he realized the break didn't take we sat up and waited for the group.

The plan was for me to give Crit a lead out from 500 meters but we got caught a little far back and on the outside so I went with about 800 meters left. I did pull him to the front but we came from so far back that too many people saw it and caught on. Crit did give me credit for stringing out the group though and as I pulled off he simply sat in for a 100 meters and then blasted by the 2 or 3 guys in front of him for the win. He sounded pretty happy to have his lead out guy back even if I am not quite where I was a few years ago.

The rest of the ride went well and I just sat in as much as possible while taking a couple of short pulls. With about 1.5 miles left two of the better riders (I know them as Hank and Dixon) went off the front and had a gap of about 100 meters. As I was coming up the last hill near the Portland Headlight I realized that I had a lot more momentum the 10 guys in front of me so I pulled around them and just kept going. Of course who was causing the slow up? That's right the guy with the backpack. So knowing I wasn't going to contest the sprint I figured I would do my best to pull the pack back to the break. I gained about 80 meters in the 600 to 700 meters I pulled for and got some thanks after the sprint for closing the gap. I even helped Crit by pulling the pack back I allowed him to shoot past a lot of guys and he finished 3rd.

Good times and then even better times on Lost Shaker of Salt II for about 10 hours and a couple of hours in the Old Port with my BW, Kelly B, Crit, his fiance Jrock and Chimp Hands. If I can get my hands on the video of Crit and Jrock dancing that is going straight to youtube!