Cliff Hanger Sprint Series

In the past week, there have been multiple chances at local glory.  Between the Cliff Hanger Sprint Series last weekend and the National Life Criterium both my hometown Montpelier, I couldn't pass up the chance to dive head on into the pain cave.

The second Cliff Hanger Sprint series was held in Montpelier, where riders went 4 at a time in dead heats to compete for the fastest spots up the stupidly steep hill.  I was able to top the first two of my heats with a PR of 1:40:00 or something like that up the hill.  Between my heats I watched as other riders dug themselves deep holes in attempts to launch the hill faster than those next to them.  Making it into the final round, I was feeling good and sitting on the wheel of the eventual Cliff Hanger Champion, Kip, when my stomach said "that's enough."  Though in fewer words, I had to let up my effort and fall back for a 3rd place finish.  Next time I suppose I'll try to devour food much earlier... rather than an hour before a competition like that.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

Quabbin Reservoir Road Race - Ware, MA

The Quabbin Reservoir Road Race started early, even possibly the night before, but most likely early in the morning.  We left the humble abode of self proclaimed Master of the Universe, Bobby Bailey's house at 5am, to find freshly fallen snow on the car and eventually the road before us.

Bikes got to sleep the whole way there...

Races started early, between 9 and 10 and took racers around a 64.9 mile course starting and ending the Quabbin Reservoir State Park.  The 64.9 miles had lots of small hills, nothing larger than a category 3 according to Strava, but nothing larger than a category 5 according the Map My Ride.  Having only looked at the Map My Ride profile before the race, I went in thinking that the hills were no larger than anything we would come across on a Tuesday Night Worlds loop.  That said, I made the mistake of making some larger digs early on in the race and had to recover and hang in tight until the end of the race.  I am proud to say that I was able to make moves and play cards throughout the entirety of the race.  While I felt tired about midway, because of proper fueling I was able to rally and pull through to the finish and sprint for a 23rd place result.

Feed zone provided by BONK! Support.  Thanks guys!

Arriving at the final finishing climb back in the park and up towards the tower, I put in a large dig thinking the finish was near by.  Had I been correct, the victory could have been mine, however because of my premature attack, I cramped and was not able to recover with enough strength to pull off my goal of a top 10. The strength is there, but the tactics clearly need work.

My next race with be May 8th in Colchester, VT at Water Tower Hill.  This will be the first of the newest Vermont Criterium Series, one which I am very excited to be a part of this season.  Local races will make the season much more enjoyable, as they will not require anything more than a 2 hour drive, as opposed to the 3-4 hour minimum of any other race in MA, NH, CT or ME.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!

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.

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!

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 Goes Eastern - Eastern Collegiate Road Championships at Penn State University

Bikeman and the League of Superhuman Bipedalists ventures to compete at Eastern Championships on the legendary Black Moshannon....

The race before the race at the
Frat Row Criterium, Penn State edition

Day 1 - Road Race - Black Moshannon
To start off blunt, this weekend was both disappointing and frustrating.  After eight consecutive weeks of racing, UVM finished up the season at Eastern Road Championships as hosted by Penn State University.  Our first day of racing was on the mighty Black Moshannon which presented a 20 mile loop for racers to complete.  While some racers did one lap, others did two, three and even four laps.  I however completed one lap after getting shelled off the back of peleton on the third climb.  Not wanting to waste myself chasing back on, I decided to pull out of the race and reserve my energy for the Criterium on Day 2.

Arcing hard, riding fast and closing out
the 2011 ECCC season in green and
gold.  Here's to 2012 racing!

Day 2 - Criterium - Frat Row
Having saved energy for Day 2, I thought I had played it fairly safe.  However in the Crit I was shelled off the back of the pack after a crash at corner one which forced me to come to a stop and almost crash myself.  Without thinking and having just avoided near death, I lept back into the race and attempted to chase back on.  At this point I am realizing I could have taken a free lap, in which I could have reported to the pit and explained there was crash that forced me to stop riding.  I was eventually pulled out of the race because I was getting lapped on the 1km loop.

Overall, the weekend was very disappointing for me.  I am using these poor results as motivation to improve and train harder to get faster.  I will be taking a 3 or 4 week hiatus from racing to specifically train and work specifically on my climbing base.  I found this to be my weakness while I was racing.  I am planning to post at least once a week, a training update for the past 6 days worth of riding or any other cross training.

Arc hard, ride fast, go plaid!