Northeast Velo Cross

With Thanksgiving break on approach, UVM cycling took the weekend off from traveling, leaving race plans up to individual riders.  I traveled down with Bobby, from IK2GO Sports, to Londonderry, NH to compete at the Northeast Velo Cross.

Keeping an eye of the riders ahead, the velodrome was
a great place to mount an attack and make up ground.

The race was early.  Almost too early to wake up on time.  With the help of coffee, bacon, and eggs, I yanked myself from bed and venture down I89 to the race.  Upon arriving, little of the course was visible from parking.  Our first impression was that the race would take you around the Northeast Velodrome, and drop you in the center.  Once we kitted up, we were able to view the rest of the course.  From the Velodrome, the race went into the center field, where two sets of barriers and a water hazard were placed in the way of the riders.

Deep breath, now run.

After clearing the second set of barriers, riders ventured over the wall of the velodrome and into the woods where the course began a striking resemblance to mountain biking.  Roots and mud made up a good section of the course.  Taking riders of bridges and into a quick run-up coming from an off camber right handed turn.  Here, riders were able to power past each other.  With a quick remount, the run-up followed by a gradual descent turned into a strategic place to mount an attack and eat through riders like the fat kid in all of us does in the vicinity of cheesecake.

Whoop.  Whoop.  WHOOP!

Immediately after the woods, riders were tossed into the whoopdy-doos of the Northeast BMX park.  At race speed, it was harder to keep the bike grounded.  It was very important to keep contact with the ground, or establish a rhythm to keep balance before heading back into the velodrome for the end of the lap.

I managed to secure 10th in the race.  After not being able to shift into the big ring, I lost contact with places 9, 8, 7 and 6 ahead of me and was forced to sprint in the little ring to hold on to the 10th place spot.  This coming weekend, I am planning to take off and enjoy a few training rides.  Next on the calendar is Ice Weasels Cometh with UVM Cycling.  There are only a few weeks left in the CX season, and just a few more months until the beginning of Collegiate Road.  With only a little time in between the two season, there will be a brief rest period, and then onto building base onto what is already being built during cross.
Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid! and a Happy Thanksgiving!

Rain, Stage 4, and more Rain

Upon hearing the weather forecast of Monday, September 5, I was skeptical. The previous 3 days had all been given a similar forecast, only to be changed at the last minute to something the complete opposite. I could only hope for the same thing today, but was not so lucky. While the early races went off "without a hitch," afternoon races were canceled when the clouds opened up and the end of the world began. The rain brought enough water to turn main street into a river. With water rising over the curbs of the brief descent of the course, officials made the call to cancel all afternoon races, including my own. Maybe the world didn't end, but the cancelation of afternoon races certainly left an anticlimactic end to the finale of the Green Mountain Stage Race. For a lack of things to say, on top of sheer exhaustion, I am going to keep my stage 4 entry short. After hearing the call for cancelation, Onion River Racing and Burris Logistics (along with a few other teams), took an ceremonial/celebratory lap on the course before it was opened to traffic. Alberto, the General Classification winner, threw on the yellow jersey and took to the road for one lap of glory. We all followed our ceremonial lap with food and beer and the Farmhouse Diner. A well deserved reward after 3 days of hard racing. With wounds healing, I am looking forward to two more races to the road season and the potential start to Mountain Bike Racing, and the eventual start to Cyclocross Racing. Next year will be different, faster and even more fun that this year.

Wind, Solo and poor planning

Bad luck seemed to follow me from yesterday to the start of todays stage when I put my bottles on my bike and the cages both snapped.  I can only assume that yesterdays crash is what did them in.  In any case, with no time to find replacement cages I threw my bottles on my back and took to the road.  Feeling only slightly sore from yesterdays introduction to the road, my legs generally felt good.  I was able to keep a decent cadence up the first climb through Duxbury and figured I would be able to keep on the peleton through the bolton flats and on to App gap.  Unfortunately, after riding a short dirt section, the pack crossed over a gravel pit where the first attack was launched.  While attackers rode away, riders closest to me seemed to come to a crawl trying to cross the "gravel pit."  The pause to cross the pit in front of me was so long, that the pack put a good amount of distance in to us, that I was unable to make up.

With one other rider, I began the chase through the Bolton flats.  It did not help that the sprint was coming up, meaning another hard acceleration that we would not be there for.  We did our best to bridge back up, but even with an additional rider, could not.  After the feed zone, I decided it would be best to just ride in at a steady pace.  Afterall, I was not in contention for the General Classification, so time lost was not a big deal, especially since giving up was not an option.

As a I approached RT116, I found myself pushing through a headwind that would not let up.  By the time I met up with the roads I had crashed on just a day before, the sky opened up just enough to cool things down.  I eventually met up with the base of RT17, which leads up to App Gap, but first crosses what is known as Baby Gap.

Approaching the 100m to go mark with a good pace, just at the wrong
time and with the wrong group leader.  Whoops.

I kept my tempo light and quick for the entirety of Baby Gap and eventually flew across the brief flat section before the beginning to the App Gap climb where I pick up my tempo and flew to the top.  Finishing just over 30 minutes back from the leaders, I am disappointed in todays result.  While I happy that I finished, and my result was not a matter of fitness, but more bad luck and poor strategizing, I'm not too torn up.  Tomorrow is a new day and the start of the Crit in downtown Burlington.  I will get to sleep in enough to get a good nights rest, but still see some good racing.  Hopefully the rain holds out and I'll be able to redeem myself at the finish.

The day I met the road... 33.2mph to 0.0mph in 1.3 seconds

Today I met the road.  While I have not been previously close with the road in the past, today we got better acquainted so to speak.  During Stage 2 of the Green Mountain Stage Race, I crashed within the final 3 miles of the race, but before divulging into juicy details too soon, here's a review of the race.

We started early. After rising to a bagel, a cliff bar, and a cup of coffee, I was out the door and ready to race.  With legs feeling strong, I lept on my saddle and took to the road amongst the Cat 3, Stage 2 Road Race.  We took to Hinesburg Hollow at a very relaxed pace.  There were no accelerations, no attacks and nothing all that exciting throughout the race.  During the first lap, I decided I would try to gain some points for the King of the Mountain title, or KOM.  However, not wanting to waste myself too soon, I held off and crossed the KOM line of the first lap somewhere within the top 10.  Continuing up the climb and the back side of "Baby Gap,"  The pack stuck together like glue through the pothole and washed out descent towards RT116.  Hearing flats left and right, I watched my line and was careful to avoid debris and potholes while descending at 50mph.

After reaching 116, a tailwind kept the peleton generally together.  With some accordion action within the pack, we made it through the first lap fully intact, at which point things eventually got interesting, but not in the least bit exciting.

Lap 2 was more of the same negative racing.  While there was shuffling and movement within the pack, the leaders found themselves without help from drafting riders.  Those tucked in the slipstream didn't dare to take a gander at the head of the pack.  I eventually followed a teammate up to the front where I found myself pulling through the next two towns.  Even when I went down to a spin, there was no follow through from drafting riders within the slipstream.  On occasion I would find myself with some assistance in the pull from other riders, but for no more than 30 seconds when they would look for another rider to take over the pull.  Once again with no one taking the initiative, I found myself playing tug man with field and towing them through yet more towns, until the 10k to go mark of the KOM for lap 2 when the pace picked up just until the crest of the KOM, and then slowed back down.

While descending, some riders were dropped, but given an opportunity to catch back on when the field was neutralized within 5 miles of the finish due to a crash in the Women's field finishing sprint.  Once the neutral was lifted, two riders almost immediately crossed wheels on the far right of the peleton.  Almost identical to dominoes set on a diagonal falling pattern, the crash shook through the pack and out to the cows in the field.  While I did not see the cows fall, I can only imagine the impact of us falling sent shock waves which toppled them on their sides in a fit of terror....

Okay, so maybe cows didn't fall over, but I did go down in the crash.  Ignoring the blood and cuts, I was able to then rally with one other rider to begin out chase back to the field.  We were then joined by another rider up the road who soon dropped off our pace, as I imagine out adrenaline was pushing everything to the limits, as I noticed a heartrate of 186bpm and a speed of 42mph without any burning and lactic build up.  As we neared the tail end of the peleton we flew through yet another crash by the same hand of two crossed wheels.  Zooming through, we sprinted out to the finish only about 10-15 seconds back from the main field.  To my pleasure, I was then informed that because the crash happened at a distance so close to the finish, the crashed riders would be given the same time as the main pack (which was the whole pack).

While I did not contend for the sprint, I am still happy with the way I rode.  I felt strong the whole way through and feel like I have plenty of leg left for tomorrows Stage 3.  Although I suppose that will be tested during tomorrows finish.

Now, you may be wondering what happened to me and the bike the crash.  I only got a little road rash on my elbow and hip, as well as a tire burn on my leg.  Luckily, I got away without a head injury even with my stealthy ninja roll to avoid Supermanning across the pavement.  

The bike got away with some scrapes and similar injuries as myself.  My derailleur hanger was twisted, so when I got home I found a similar one and filed it to match the profile of my bike.  Shifting smoother than before, I am ready for tomorrow.

Godzilla, Irene and the Green Mountain Stage Race

Update: With a 52nd place finish in 16:12.36, only 00:01:49 off pace and a good bit faster than last years time, there's lots of room to improve and still plenty of other opportunities that don't include 5.6 miles of suffering alone, to go for a little home turf glory.

Today marks the prologue time trial of the Green Mountain Stage Race.  Somehow, even in the wake of hurricane Irene with hurricane Katie just on the horizon, race organizers scrambled to reassemble stages 2 and 3.  Why you ask?  Because in Vermont, where we never get Hurricanes, we got a hurricane.  Said massive amounts of rain and wind from the given storm called Irene, demolished large sections of road when what were trickling brooks and streams, became MASSIVE RIVERS which dug trenches in hill sides and made cars, bridges and towns such as Waterbury, Granville and Rochester look like a model train sets that had recently met the wrath of 4 year of Irene and her Godzilla action figure with new and improved wind and rain!

I am amazed that in the wake of this destructive event, the race went on.  Even with a large portion of our main racing roads now gone or cut off, new courses we created to substitute the missing portions.  However, today's stage, was one of the two courses that remained intact.  With no noticeable scars from the storm on the course, the 5.6 mile time trial starting from Warren Village was able to start as scheduled.

Leaving the start at 10:11:00 a.m., I found myself at a slower pace than I wanted to be on the initial climb of the ITT.  I had to rally my legs to pull through over the top crest where I was able to slowly work up to speed through the final pitch and across the gradual descent towards the finish.  Now, when I say gradual, I mean that over the final 6K, there was about a 1-2% negative grade that allowed riders to really rip through East Warren and back towards Waitsfield.  With 1K to go, I reached a quick dip before the final climb, one which can potentially make, or brake you're entire ITT.  I entered the climb from the dip with as much momentum as I could carry, and without pushing myself to the point of popping, was able to keep strong power through the climb and increase my output through to the finish.

I wouldn't particularly call today a complete success, but I also would not write it off as a failure.  There were a lot of good things that happened during the course of the ITT, along with bad.  Now that it's done, the only thing that I can do is prep for Stage 2, the Hinesburg Circuit Race.  My plan for the evening, eat lots of carbs, lots of protein and ice my legs in frozen towels.

To all competitors, good luck and keep the rubber side, down.  We're all glad to have made it.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Tokeneke Classic Road Race

Climbing with the pack at the Tokeneke Classic
Road Race before bad tactics got the better of me.

This past weekend I ventured to New Hartland, CT to compete at the Tokeneke Classic Road Race.  The course was rolling with two climbs, each about 2 miles a piece.  With rain pouring down from the sky and the pack going hard, I found myself with no brakes on the descents.  Now, this was not because I did not actually have brakes, but rather because I forgot cork brake pads and carbon rims do not have good stopping ability in wet conditions.  In the past I hadn't had problems with slowing in the rain, however this time it was particularly wet and slick.  

With descents hitting speeds over 50 mph and the pack moving like an accordion I figured as not to cause an accident I would hang back a little towards the top of a climb and just accelerate through the descent and catch back on.  Due to poor timing I wasn't able to tack back on to the pack and only completed 2 full laps with legs left to complete another 2.

After poor tactics pulled me out of the race, I used
the course to train hard to make the next result
a good result.

Had I thought about it more and considered my options, I should have attacked over the crest of the climb and led through the descents.  The uncomfortable part of not having brakes was not the accelerations, but the accelerations towards people who were slowing.  Without the ability to brake I psyched myself out, especially after already have seen a friend who crashed in an earlier race, resulting in snapped handlebars and some minor flesh wounds.  Even though he was okay and quite chipper after crashing, the image of sliding out, or crashing into someone at 50mph was not appealing.

The positive part of the race, my legs felt spectacular on the climbs.  I didn't particularly feel like I was struggling at any point other than settling into the rhythm of climbing accelerations.  After being dropped because of my poor racing tactics, I used the remainder of my time on the course to train to hopefully make my next result a good result.

Over the next week I will be traveling to Vancouver for my Cousins wedding.  While I'm there my plan is to spend the early mornings training in the mountains of British Columbia and aiming to peak for the Green Mountain Stage Race which will be happening on Labor Day weekend.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Back in Business and goin' strong!

After playing with new stretches and exercises off the bike, and finally getting a bike fit, I am back in business and going strong!

TRAINING AND GENERAL HEALTH

These past few weeks have been spent consulting with Steve and Hannah at Elevation Physical Therapy in Warren, VT.  They both helped my to begin the process of loosening my hip flexors which, as observed by Steve and Hannah as well as Sean at Ski Rack, are far too tight for my own good.

Before getting the bike fit, Specialized Body Geometry fit at Ski Rack, to be precise, I spent a lot of time doing stretches to loosen my hip flexor, strengthen my gluts, and separate my IT bands.  All in the effort to reduce stress on my right knee, which until this past week could not last more than 10 miles of easy efforts. The addition of simple stretches, as well as minute adjustments of the cleat, lead to my knee being 200% better than it was before.

While I am still working on loosening my legs in general, the additional help of the BG Fit from Sean at Ski Rack sealed the deal.  While I do not know how to fit, I had done my best by searching google and reading through almost every thing I could find on how to solve any problems I could find.  Alas, nothing beats having someone who is an expert had has the papers to prove it dial your bike fit in.  As demonstrated in the video, there was an amazing improvement of knee alignment.  Can you tell which is before and after?

Photo by Kenneth Saxe

The pack accelerates through the straights and corners
at the GMBC Practice Criterium in Essex, VT.

RACING
I finished 3rd in a local criterium in Essex, VT while racing in the A field.  After warming up with the B field and successfully testing my knee, I took to the road with the simple game plan of playing it safe and just keeping a good tempo through the entirety of the race as not to aggravate my knee.
The A race proceeded as expected, Bobby Bailey made a break in the pack, which held until the end, resulting with Bobby and Jake taking 1-2 and leaving the rest of us room to sprint for 3rd.  Feeling good, I wound up with 2 corners to go, taking the smooth line through the final corner I unleashed my sprint, finishing in what I thought was 10th, but turned out to be 3rd after a few checks with spectators and officials

Photo by Kenneth Saxe

Sprinting for the line out of what was apparently the
main field at the GMBC practice criterium.

Looking ahead...
I am planning to head down to Tokeneke Classic in East Hartland, CT next weekend.  After which I'll be heading to Vancouver, BC for my cousin Sarah's wedding... of course I'll be shredding some trails and riding some gaps while I'm there... I mean, wouldn't you?  When I return it's final preparations for the Green Mountain Stage Race....

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Just pictures

Some pictures from todays ride... tired... so that's all you get.  Pictures.  They're worth 1,000 words anyways, and with the number of miles added on, it's worth a billion rotations more.

Ritesville Dam from Horn of the Moon Rd

Jackson Hill as seen by my pedal

Elm Street as seen by my shoe.

5,958 vertical feet, 108 miles, 86 degrees, and 3 times up...

The Smugglers Triple, totaling 5,958 vertical feet over
105 miles of Vermont roads.

The plan for this weekend was to do as many miles as possible.  So far, that is exactly what I have done.  I took to the road today with the plan to at the very least ride the notch road (rt 108) twice, but the goal of riding multiple mountain roads.  With the sun beating down, I took route 15 all the way to Jeffersonville where I began the steady grind up the Smugglers Notch side of the mountain with plans to meet Andrew at the top.  I passed and met many other riders on the road who had ventured down to lovely Vermont from Canada, mostly Quebec where I was informed the riding was significantly flatter than the roads of Vermont.

The peak of the climb.

For those of you that have never been on the Notch Road, it is a beautiful trip.  The Smugglers Notch side is a steady grind up into the trees of Mt. Mainsfield.  Once in the trees, the road begins to switchback around the giant rock formations encasing both sides of the road.  The Stowe side of the Notch road is very similar, but a more gradual climb, with two walls of pavement towards the end.  The road also switchbacks around giant rock formations where hiking trails have been forged.  

The Smugglers side of the climb is small
compared to the mountains which
surround it.

I was strong enough to climb the notch three times, the last of which ended at a much slower pace than the previous two.  After the final climb up the Smugglers Notch side, we descended towards Stowe, but bypassed the village by going through Moscow and coming through Waterbury Center.  Once in Waterbury, we went separate ways.  I ventured back towards Burlington by way of Route 2 through Bolton and Richmond where I decided to take a quick spin up the first part of the Bolton access road.  After remembering I had already ridden the Notch road three times, I turned around and continued to Burlington where energy stayed high, and I stayed awake.

Overall, a good day for the legs, tan and fun.  I'm looking forward to tomorrows ride.  Hopefully the weather will hold out for all 70+ miles.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Didn't race, Rode instead

This evening I was supposed to be heading to Exeter, NH for the 29th Annual Exeter Hospital Criterium, but because of late work release, and not enough time to get to the race and still be able to warm up, register, swap out wheels or even get dressed, I instead stayed in Montpelier and enjoyed a nice hilly ride just outside of the Montpelier town lines.

Lots of awesome climbs no further than 10 miles outside of Montpelier.

Starting in Montpelier, we ventured out past the golden dome of the state capitol building and headed up Terrace Street and continued out further towards Middlesex and some lovely dirt climbs.  We eventually ventured off of the Terrace Street/East Hill Street climb to Molly Supple Hill, which is an average of 10% grade and feels like forever.  After climbing briefly, a long descent lead us to route 12 where we headed towards Calais Rd and continued our climbing tour through Calais and East Montpelier.  We concluded our ride with the glory of a Maple Creemee from Morse Farm, a great place to end a ride, as well as an awesome place for mountain biking in the fall.
Even though I didn't get to make it to the race, I thought it was important to make use of the time that I had to ride and progress further in strength and skill.  There are no races this coming weekend, so I'm planning to do some long hours and heavy miles to prep for the coming race weekends.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Part of training is resting

Pond Rd leading towards Rt 116 from Dorset St.  One
of many roads taken in the past ten days.

The past 10 days have been spent dodging rain and not always successfully.  Today, although beautiful was spent resting and getting fresh for the days ahead.  While this entry is short and to the point, I'd like to stress the importance of resting, whether active or passive.

After spending multiple days in the saddle, doing rides both easy and hard the body needs a day which it can rest and recover.  The enjoyment of the saddle can sometimes be a curse, especially when the weather does not always cooperate.

Laundry day!

All in all, be sure to rest, no matter how nice it may be, it might be just as nice to just sit and enjoy the sun.  Rest days are also great days to do laundry.

In a quick gear update, I've been told a replacement set of cranks are on the way from FSA.  Racing will resume within the next two weeks.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Catching Up

While racing has been postponed by health, and now componentry problems, training has still been fantastic, but in order to get back to racing I am in need of a BB30 Crankset with a 172.5mm arm length.  
Please let me know if you have one you'd like to offload.  I've got wheels and other components for trade as well.  Contact me for more information at SkiDemon55@gmail.com

After being sick for about two and a half weeks, my recovery and catch up is coming along steadily.  Once the school year ended, systems shut down and began the reboot process.  The past three weeks have been spent riding lots of hours on difficult routes and paths.  To catch y'all up to speed, here's an idea of what the weekly schedule has been like:

Sunday: Long hours 4+
Monday: 3hrs easy + Mtn Biking
Tuesday: 2.5hrs, hard and fast + 80 mile commute
Wednesday: 3hrs easy
Thursday: Time Trial + Mtn Biking
Friday: 3hrs easy
Saturday: Rest/Cross Training

While all of this sounds glorious, most riding has been very wet and miserable.  While I don't mind getting wet, it does get old having to clean my bike after every ride.

Recap of the past few days:
Thursday evening was marked with the New Haven Jct TT, a 13.something loop out beyond Bristol but before Middlebury.  I was joined by UVM strongmen Ben C and Jake W and the Wonder Woman herself, Shannon B.  We all took strong to the course in the evening sun, along with 16 other competitors including 1K2GO pointman Bobby Bailey.

With strong legs I managed to launch myself about 10 miles past the first turn.  Completely missing the course by said 10 miles, I used the time to continue working on my TT effort.  Looking at the map after the ride, I realized I had ridden out into Starksburo (past the Rt 17 turn to App Gap).  Whatever TT I had just ridden, I won... but only because I was the only one doing it.  Whoops.

Friday, now known as dirt day, was spent roaming the back roads of Chittenden County with 3 fellow UVM riders.  We spent the afternoon being led through the countryside by Tristan B who capped our ride off by leading us onto a goat road in the middle of no where.  I will honestly say, I have never had so much fun while being so terrified.  Perhaps this goat road will become a part of the future Tour De Vermont.  Flanders, eat your heart out.


Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Barre Bike and Fitness Festival - Barre Grand Prix - Barre, VT

This past weekend was the first of hopefully many Barre Bike and Fitness Festivals.  Citizens traveled from far and near to attend the event of healthy habits and entertainment.  With the help of probably hundreds of volunteers, the weekend was able to end in the smooth execution of the Barre Grand Prix.  The Criterium bike race meant to highlight the weekends festivities.

Bridging up to the pack after a surge for the prime sprint lap.

Being the first year of the festival, I expected fields to be minimal in the number of entrants and spectators.  Boy was I wrong!  The 3/4 field, although small in comparison to other races, had just shy of 40 entrants.  The support during the race was phenomenal, people lined the start/finish stretch along Main St.  The cheering was more than enough noise to down out the constant complaints from my legs enough for me to last through the entirety of the race.

The 0.85 mile loop went right through downtown Barre.

The course consisted of a 0.85 mile loop with three corners, one of them being more of a curve than a corner.  Competitors went counter-clockwise through the loop, crossing train tracks on two separate occasions each before or after a bridge section.  There were no causalities I was aware of during the race, however a few racers were dropped from the field during one of the many surges throughout the 60 minute race.  Eventually a two man break formed and stuck with about 17 laps to go.

The peleton is given a break through the tailwind assisted
straightaway. A brief rest before the bridges and headwind.

The two riders, one Onion River Racer and a VOX rider rode to claim the top steps of the podium while the rest of us fought it out for the remaining places.  I managed to finish is 16th, a respectable finish after being sick with a stomach bug for the week previous.  Overall, I am happy with how the race went, and I can't wait to race again next year.  Hopefully by then I will have built on the strength and tactics I have earned in order to gain a win.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Bikeman and the Wall at Sterling - Sterling Road Race - Sterling, MA

This past weekend I unexpectedly entered the 17th Annual Sterling Road Race in Sterling, MA.  The race was 7 laps on an 8 mile loop going through rolling hills and finishing on what might as well have been a wall.

Having just finished racing the 8 week collegiate season, I was planning to take time off until the Lake Sunapee RR at the end of May.  However, having a race less than 4 hours away is rare, so I took the opportunity and traveled down interstates to Sterling, MA with Andrew who was entering the Pro/1/2 field.  After counting more vanity plates along the way, we arrived at the staging area and were greeted warmly by fellow Onions who had either just finished racing in the 4s field, or were planning to put the rubber to the road in the coming afternoon races.  I was lucky enough to be racing alongside my teammate Damian, who entered the blistering pace of the 3 field.

We began the race with a 1 mile neutral start from staging to the course, upon the arrival of the course, the pace increased to the speed of a hammer hitting a nail.  Under normal circumstances, the pace would let up slightly once the competition settled it.  In this case, the pace did not settle until there were two laps to go.  At this time, my back had already seized up and thus preventing me from putting any hard efforts in to keep with the pace of the race.  I was dropped like a rock, but rode out an additional lap before calling it a day.

After chatting with teammates and other riders, we came to the conclusion that my saddle was jammed too far forward and needed to be moved back a few centimeters.  I have since done so and my back feels considerably better.  To help fix the problem I will be doing a variety of core exercises which target the back region.  Additionally, my saddle has been moved back to easy pressure on the vertebre.

After the race, we enjoyed a scenic ride back along route 12 through MA and up into NH before hopping onto I91 and eventually I89.  From now until Sunapee I am planning to put in many more miles.  With school coming to a close, I will have more time for 5+ hour rides.

My next planned event is a practice crit which is run by the GMBC.  I entered these practice crits last year and they greatly improved my handling skills and abilities as a racer.  There will be four practice crits this summer, one per month.  I encourage racers of all levels to enter either the A, B or C race at least once time this summer.  They cost 5$ and there are 10$ temp licenses available.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Bikeman Eats the Beanpot - Boston Beanpot 2.0

Bikeman ventures deep into the pain cave while trying to steer clear of bonksville.

The race before the race was won by the green and gold.

The weekend started off with snow.  Lots and lots of snow fluttering down from the skies in both solid and liquid forms making the drive down a less than fun experience (driving-wise, still entertaining though!).  Upon arriving we found out the planned Circuit race had been changed to a day of Time Trials, both Team  and Individual.  Luckily, Day 2, the Beanpot 2.0 Campus Criterium remained unaffected by the weather and ran as scheduled with Men's and Women's Collegiate Races in the morning and USAC races immediately following in the afternoon.

Day 1 - Westminster, MA - TTT and ITT - Boston Beanpot 2.0
Our day started with a mixture of delicious pancakes, maple syrup, orange juice and snow.  Lots of cold, white, fluffy and stupid snow.  Because of the recent accumulation of precipitation, our schedule of events had changed from a TTT and a Circuit to a TTT and an ITT, also known as a day in the PAIN CAVE.  We arrived in Westminister with classic UVM Cycling style, a style which explains itself.

Right to left: Scott Igo, Harry Goldman and Joshua Saxe
cross the finish with the fastest TTT time.

TTT - For the TTT we decided to reform teams to be equally suited in ability and body types.  For a TTT all riders work together by using the rider in front of them as a blocker, riders take turns being the lead rider and blocking wind, thus creating a slipstream for teammates to ride and rest in until it is their turn to pull. Teams of equally sized riders are efficient when riders take pulls for short amounts of time, making sure to keep a pace which all riders can maintain until the finish.  Our four-man team of smaller riders, including myself, succeeded to post the fastest time of 35:16.28 over 12.5 miles to take the win, while our four-man team of larger riders was close behind with a time of 35:29.82, resulting in a 1-2 finish for UVM Cycling!  I would like to point out the use of equipment amongst the winning team more specifically the converted Haro Mountain Bike ridden by Scott Igo who utilized road fork and drop bars to complete the conversion to a "Road Bike" and special for the occasion, an aero disc wheel for extra "badassery."

ITT - The ITT was less of a team event.  In fact, the ITT is the definition of a non-team event.  All riders pace themselves to produce the fastest possible time over the distance of the marked Time Trial course.  Individually I was happy with my performance.  After catching two riders in front of me, and dropping a rider who caught me on the final climb of the ITT, I posted a 5th place finishing time of 18:06.50, roughly 5 seconds behind Jake "The Hebrew Hammer" Warshaw who finished in 4th with a time of 18:01.19 over the 6.3 mile course.

Day 2 - Somerville, MA - Criterium and USAC Criterium

Tanner Haskins and Josh Saxe take a visit through the
pain cave without going through bonktown.

Collegiate Criterium - After getting a good nights rest on the most comfortable couch in the world, we traveled to Tufts Somerville campus for the legendary criterium which was last raced in 2007.  The course was technically demanding, with 6 corners and three sets of cobblestone walkways spanning across the finishing flat.  The course started with an easy left hand turn into a quick descent which led straight to a blisteringly fast 90 degree left hand corner.  The corner of death was followed by a smooth semi-flat straight away leading into corner 3 and 4, an uphill switchback followed by a brief flat into the climb after corner 5 and 6 in to the finishing stretch.

The racing was fast and furious.  The brakes were rarely touched anywhere in the course.  Coming out of turn 2 on to the flats was the most forgiving section of the race due to the helping hand of the tailwind.  Coming into the climb and on to the flats was by far the deepest in to the pain cave I went in the whole race.  The upper flat finishing stretch was tainted by a brutally strong headwind which made the apex of the climb a chore and half to push through.  I managed to finish in 16th place in the Collegiate Criterium, a satisfying placement considering criteriums are by far my weakest event.

Returning to the pain cave of Beanpot 2.0 Criterium as
an Onion!

USAC 4/5 Criterium - Later in the day I had a repeat performance amongst the USAC 4/5 field, finishing in 17th place among the 18/49 finishers.  While the pace was faster and I was exhausted, I managed to push myself further into the depths of the pain cave for a finishing result.

Coming up next...
Next weekend I will be venturing to race the legendary Battenkill, a classic race of the East Coast.  Feared by some, won by others.  Hopefully I will be able to travel to Yale to compete in the first day of races before the Battenkill Road Race on Sunday.  Yale was my first collegiate racing weekend last year, where I was pulled from all races besides the Time Trial.  I would love the chance to be able to return to Yale and put the race in it's place.  After all, no one has ever won a race in which they don't start.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!