This is the last wednesday race of the season. After this is the labor day meet and then the long, lonely winter. I was talking to Haley before I left for the track and she told me to win the race for her. She didn't specify which race, so I figured I would try to win all of them. I dropped back down to my 90" gear for tonight, figuring that I would be tired from yesterday's racing in t-town and it would better match the rougher surface. There was another big showing of riders including USMA again. Pink Rhino was well represented with Dave, Keith, Andy, Lucas, Aaron and Steve all in attendance, as well as still-on-the-fence rhino Jen. Also at the track was Eric, who I had been following on Strava for a while, so it was nice to finally meet him and Chris showed up as well, who was the cool guy from Colorado/Connecticut that Andy and I met on his bike shakedown ride a month or so ago.
The first race was an 8 lap scratch. I sat in for most of the race as other rhinos attacked off the front. Keith put in a good attack, and then Steve countered. I then countered both of theirs on the last lap to pass both of them for the win. I had a good gap to second place, so I turned off the gas on the homestretch, which apparently Steve also did, but he got pipped at the line by USMA steve. Sorry, team steve!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633526
Next came the initial rounds of Chariots, run with three heats. I was in the third heat and got my push from Steve. He definitely has the technique down. Nobody that he pushed tonight got less than second place in their race. I started up near the rail, maybe two riders down from the top. When the whistle blew, I got a quick gap going and just kept my nose to the bars to roll in first.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633523
A few other fields ran their races and then we had the finals for the chariot. I had steve push me again. I started in about the same place, near the rail. I got another good start at the whistle, with Ron ahead of me going into turn 1. The backstretch was a real drag race as we both were about even going into turn 3, but by turn 4 I was able to pull ahead for the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633520
The final race was a 6 lap Point-a-Lap. Dave made a great attack on the first lap only to get pipped at the line by Mattie. I was mid pack at the start, so I worked my way up to the front for two laps. Mattie got the second sprint as well, but by the third sprint I saw him fading a bit as Andreas and I think Sean started coming ahead. I threw my sprint into the mix, taking the point and creating a gap at the same time. Rather than sit up, I put my nose down again and soloed the next three laps to take all the points for my final win. The final sprint counted as 2-1, and looking at the results, Keith was able to get that second point to give him third place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633516
This concluded the Omnium, placing me in first overall. I told Haley, and she was happy with the results. So was I, of course. I actually felt really good tonight. I wish I had felt this good at states. Keith, Steve, Andy and Lucas all finished 6-9th. Jen won her Omnium with a third and two wins. After packing everything away, we had a short team meeting to discuss sponsors and goals for the upcoming off-season. I think that went very well. We're hoping to develop the women's team a bit, which would be great.
Alright, that's it for the wednesday race reports. bittersweet, I'd say.
31.8.12
Race: T-Town Fuji Super Tuesdays 8/28 - Stagiares
Once again, I've waited too long to write up this report, so the details are once again lost to the mists of time:
I drove to the track this time. I was pretty proud of myself for that. I left at noon-fifteen, and got there around 4, maybe earlier. Got some foods at panera, then headed to the track to take a nap in the shade of the bleachers. I got bored of that after a half hour, so I figured I would do some laps on the track until things got going. In the parking lot I saw non-team Keith, so we talked for a bit. We got our bikes together just as team keith and team andy showed up. We all brought our stuff to the infield and about that time registration opened. Registered, stood around. Potentially-team Jen showed up. Changed, warmed up. Switched wheels, warmed up again. I decided I was going to bump up the gearing a bit today. Allllll the way up. to 91.8" (51x15). Risky business, let me tell you.
The first race was a 5 lap Scratch. I was near the back up top at the gun, so I spent the first few laps just trying to move up in the field. Basically the whole race was a slow wind up to the final sprint, but when I saw mini-nothstein and another rider go, I went. I couldn't keep up with their acceleration, but a quick look behind showed I had enough of a gap to maintain third, my best result yet this year.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307252
Next was a 20 lap Points race. I think I got fourth in the first sprint, maybe fifth in the next. After this I just couldn't find my legs. I spent the rest of the race dogging it on the back, just trying to not get popped off and lapped. Andy was able to make some moves though, and he ended up getting third in this race.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307247
The final race for the Stagiare omnium was an unknown distance scratch. Since this was the last race instead of the first this time, I figured I would wait in the field a bit before trying my suicide solo attack off the front. I had a feeling the race would be ten laps or so, so I figured I would try to attack around 5 laps in. In reality, the race only ended up being six laps long, so I spent the final lap passing almost the whole field in the backstretch of the bell lap and taking fourth in the sprint.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307243
This concluded the Stagiare Omnium. I came in fourth overall for the night, which is also my best result this year. It got me a $10 check and one upgrade point. Truly I am finally making it.
The feature race for the evening was a 40 lap Madison. Keith and Andy managed to get themselves in it, which I thought was great. They originally thought it would be great, then tried to get out of it, then actually raced and had a good time. They got gapped early on, but they looked really good after they started to get comfortable with it. I, on the other hand, got a beer.
Jen got third or fourth overall, I think. Something along those lines. I'll update this when the results are posted.
I drove to the track this time. I was pretty proud of myself for that. I left at noon-fifteen, and got there around 4, maybe earlier. Got some foods at panera, then headed to the track to take a nap in the shade of the bleachers. I got bored of that after a half hour, so I figured I would do some laps on the track until things got going. In the parking lot I saw non-team Keith, so we talked for a bit. We got our bikes together just as team keith and team andy showed up. We all brought our stuff to the infield and about that time registration opened. Registered, stood around. Potentially-team Jen showed up. Changed, warmed up. Switched wheels, warmed up again. I decided I was going to bump up the gearing a bit today. Allllll the way up. to 91.8" (51x15). Risky business, let me tell you.
The first race was a 5 lap Scratch. I was near the back up top at the gun, so I spent the first few laps just trying to move up in the field. Basically the whole race was a slow wind up to the final sprint, but when I saw mini-nothstein and another rider go, I went. I couldn't keep up with their acceleration, but a quick look behind showed I had enough of a gap to maintain third, my best result yet this year.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307252
Next was a 20 lap Points race. I think I got fourth in the first sprint, maybe fifth in the next. After this I just couldn't find my legs. I spent the rest of the race dogging it on the back, just trying to not get popped off and lapped. Andy was able to make some moves though, and he ended up getting third in this race.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307247
The final race for the Stagiare omnium was an unknown distance scratch. Since this was the last race instead of the first this time, I figured I would wait in the field a bit before trying my suicide solo attack off the front. I had a feeling the race would be ten laps or so, so I figured I would try to attack around 5 laps in. In reality, the race only ended up being six laps long, so I spent the final lap passing almost the whole field in the backstretch of the bell lap and taking fourth in the sprint.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216307243
This concluded the Stagiare Omnium. I came in fourth overall for the night, which is also my best result this year. It got me a $10 check and one upgrade point. Truly I am finally making it.
The feature race for the evening was a 40 lap Madison. Keith and Andy managed to get themselves in it, which I thought was great. They originally thought it would be great, then tried to get out of it, then actually raced and had a good time. They got gapped early on, but they looked really good after they started to get comfortable with it. I, on the other hand, got a beer.
Jen got third or fourth overall, I think. Something along those lines. I'll update this when the results are posted.
2012.40: 8/27 - 9/2
Sunday: I decided to check out the 20th annual hudson tugboat race today. It was pretty cool. I stopped at the frying pan afterward for lunch, and then to keep with the maritime theme, I rode to the staten island ferry and then rode back up to Jersey City over the Bayonne bridge, making sure to go past Snug Harbor.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218078803
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Saturday: Rode over to brooklyn to help Josh move to his new place. Rode home. Did nothing.
Friday: No riding. My hamstrings hurt from not warming up before spinning my brains out last night. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Thursday: No riding during the day. I did some goldsprints at night. See that race report, too. EDIT: No data, no report. I'll just write it all here. The final public showing of triple rush episodes was today, followed by goldsprints. It was held at the Chrome store, which is a really cool place. The people that work there seem awesome based on Gil's party and this. I got there early to help set up, and the party started rolling around 6:30. Team Josh was in charge of the keg, which was being very temperamental. After the foam stopped, $1 PBRs started flowing, and things were good. This was the first episode of triple rush that I saw, and it looked pretty interesting. I had a hard time paying attention as I was helping Josh with bartending duties a little bit, so I'll have to check it out online. There were a ton of people registered for Goldsprints, so it was basically done as two-up timed seeding, and then finals for the two fastest times. The fork mounts were temperamental as well, and heather's bike popped out of the mount on one run, bending the dropout. I put my bike on as it had enough chain to run the 48x17 gear to keep everything standard between bikes. I got the fastest time, just ahead of Corey the Courier. This put us in the finals, with me narrowly beating him for the win. I won a goat fgfs frame, which was too big and not really something I would do anything with anyhow, so when Corey asked if I'd be willing to sell it, I said hell no, I'll just trade for your prizes. So now I own a medium goat sweatshirt, a youth large (it fits!) king kog t-shirt and a mess queen purple zebra stripe beer cozy. Corey said he'd also get me some messenger edition helmet, which sounds cool, so I think I came out just fine.
Wednesday: Raced at Kissena in the evening. See the race report for that. In the morning, however, I did ride over to hauppauge to pick up the key to my brother's house. My legs started out feeling pretty fatigued from racing the night before, but I felt pretty good by the time I got home. Granted, I was also going a lot slower at the end.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633545
NP/IF/TSS: 210W/0.911/71
Tuesday: Raced at T-town. See race report.
Monday: No riding. Resting before three days in a row of racing.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/218078803
NP/IF/TSS: N/A
Saturday: Rode over to brooklyn to help Josh move to his new place. Rode home. Did nothing.
Friday: No riding. My hamstrings hurt from not warming up before spinning my brains out last night. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
Thursday: No riding during the day. I did some goldsprints at night. See that race report, too. EDIT: No data, no report. I'll just write it all here. The final public showing of triple rush episodes was today, followed by goldsprints. It was held at the Chrome store, which is a really cool place. The people that work there seem awesome based on Gil's party and this. I got there early to help set up, and the party started rolling around 6:30. Team Josh was in charge of the keg, which was being very temperamental. After the foam stopped, $1 PBRs started flowing, and things were good. This was the first episode of triple rush that I saw, and it looked pretty interesting. I had a hard time paying attention as I was helping Josh with bartending duties a little bit, so I'll have to check it out online. There were a ton of people registered for Goldsprints, so it was basically done as two-up timed seeding, and then finals for the two fastest times. The fork mounts were temperamental as well, and heather's bike popped out of the mount on one run, bending the dropout. I put my bike on as it had enough chain to run the 48x17 gear to keep everything standard between bikes. I got the fastest time, just ahead of Corey the Courier. This put us in the finals, with me narrowly beating him for the win. I won a goat fgfs frame, which was too big and not really something I would do anything with anyhow, so when Corey asked if I'd be willing to sell it, I said hell no, I'll just trade for your prizes. So now I own a medium goat sweatshirt, a youth large (it fits!) king kog t-shirt and a mess queen purple zebra stripe beer cozy. Corey said he'd also get me some messenger edition helmet, which sounds cool, so I think I came out just fine.
Wednesday: Raced at Kissena in the evening. See the race report for that. In the morning, however, I did ride over to hauppauge to pick up the key to my brother's house. My legs started out feeling pretty fatigued from racing the night before, but I felt pretty good by the time I got home. Granted, I was also going a lot slower at the end.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/216633545
NP/IF/TSS: 210W/0.911/71
Tuesday: Raced at T-town. See race report.
Monday: No riding. Resting before three days in a row of racing.
24.8.12
Race: Kissena Twilight Series 8/22 - Cat 3/4
Well I'm writing this report a bit late, so the details are fuzzy or more likely just non-existent. It's weird, my season is basically over now so I'm really not particularly motivated to keep up with the training blog or training in general, but the past few weeks have really gotten me motivated to race still. I think it's the team. I'll just put it out there, Pink Rhino is awesome. This group of guys and gals is the best and they're definitely motivating me in a positive way to strive for better results. Hopefully I can get to the last few T-town Tuesdays to lock up some upgrade points for next year. Alright, let's get to this:
The weather was probably nice. Warm to hot, I'd say. There might have been some wind. I seem to remember wind. I really should just make myself write these things the same day. I had an interview in the morning that I just barely woke up on time for because I was out late working on a jigsaw puzzle with friends the night before (no, really. I'm that lame) so I didn't eat breakfast. I think I had a bowl of cereal after I got back around noon and that was it for the day. About halfway to the track I realized I might not have stuffed my race number in my bag. Turns out that was the case, but I got a new one from Alan. I talked to Josh for a little, then warmed up and got ready to race. There was a really good turnout of riders this week. Probably the biggest all year. It almost rivaled the turnout on Saturday, I'd say. A lot of the USMA riders showed up again, which was cool. I was the only Pink Rhino representing, though.
The first race was a 5 lap Super Tempo. My plan was to sit on wheels and try to outsprint anybody else at the line. What actually happened was I attacked hard at the whistle, getting the first lap's points. I sat up a little bit after the sprint to get back into the group, then went hard again to take lap two. After this one I had a little gap with Josh closing in. I let him come around hoping we could get a little two person attack going, but he started to fade a bit. The group caught up and passed us, I latched on and got in a third place sprint. The details of the final two sprints I don't really remember, but apparently I won both of those, too. This gave me the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337271
Next was a Devil's Scratch. This is a combination of a devil-takes-the-hindmost (aka miss and out, or elimination) and then a scratch. Alan said he would bring the field of 17 riders down to 8, then there would be a six lap scratch. I was feeling a little exhausted from my efforts in the last race, so my plan was to sit at the back and play the role of the devil. Every lap I would drop all the way back, then ramp the speed up just before turn 3 until I knew my back wheel was ahead of at least one other rider. It's actually pretty fun to do, and if you can handle the acceleration each time around it's not super difficult either. This is basically how the whole elimination part went. There was a crash on the second to last elimination lap. I think it was a military academy rider. I don't know what happened, but hopefully he's alright. Alan neutralized us for a lap, and then he pulled the last rider. The scratch was pretty uneventful. I might have tried an attack. I don't really remember. I found myself at the front with about a lap and a half, so I figured I would just try to diesel in. It almost worked, but I got edged out at the line, which put me in second place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337263
After this was a 15 lap Points race with four sprints. I couldn't figure out how the sprint were supposed to be set up because usually they're at even intervals, but Alan said it was just like a 16 lap, but he would just take out one of the laps at the beginning. Works for me. I was feeling the lack of food by now, so I was just planning on sitting in for a little bit, then dropping out. Josh was feeling the same way, so we decided we would try to alternate hammering on the front with Francisco, just because we could. I found myself stuck back a bit during the neutral lap, so I couldn't really help out, but they tried it for a couple of laps. Eventually I was able to get up front and hammer for a little. I came in second in the first sprint, fourth in the second. After this I basically sat in the back. I would try little accelerations here and there, but it was mostly from me debating deep down inside if I really wanted to keep racing or not. I finally figured I would sit through the whole race and sat up on the last lap. I was happy with my results for the night.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337252
This concluded the 3/4 races. It was really starting to get dark by now, so the other fields' races were abbreviated a bit. Everyone got three races in though, so I'd call that a success. I came in second overall in the omnium, behind Francisco. Next week will be the last twilight race of the year, so hopefully we can end the season with another good turrnout. My guess is there'll be some short races due to the earlier sunsets now. Results are posted here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2012/Kissena12TwilightSeriesWeek16.pdf
EDIT: all these races were done in my typical 90" (50x15) gear.
The weather was probably nice. Warm to hot, I'd say. There might have been some wind. I seem to remember wind. I really should just make myself write these things the same day. I had an interview in the morning that I just barely woke up on time for because I was out late working on a jigsaw puzzle with friends the night before (no, really. I'm that lame) so I didn't eat breakfast. I think I had a bowl of cereal after I got back around noon and that was it for the day. About halfway to the track I realized I might not have stuffed my race number in my bag. Turns out that was the case, but I got a new one from Alan. I talked to Josh for a little, then warmed up and got ready to race. There was a really good turnout of riders this week. Probably the biggest all year. It almost rivaled the turnout on Saturday, I'd say. A lot of the USMA riders showed up again, which was cool. I was the only Pink Rhino representing, though.
The first race was a 5 lap Super Tempo. My plan was to sit on wheels and try to outsprint anybody else at the line. What actually happened was I attacked hard at the whistle, getting the first lap's points. I sat up a little bit after the sprint to get back into the group, then went hard again to take lap two. After this one I had a little gap with Josh closing in. I let him come around hoping we could get a little two person attack going, but he started to fade a bit. The group caught up and passed us, I latched on and got in a third place sprint. The details of the final two sprints I don't really remember, but apparently I won both of those, too. This gave me the win.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337271
Next was a Devil's Scratch. This is a combination of a devil-takes-the-hindmost (aka miss and out, or elimination) and then a scratch. Alan said he would bring the field of 17 riders down to 8, then there would be a six lap scratch. I was feeling a little exhausted from my efforts in the last race, so my plan was to sit at the back and play the role of the devil. Every lap I would drop all the way back, then ramp the speed up just before turn 3 until I knew my back wheel was ahead of at least one other rider. It's actually pretty fun to do, and if you can handle the acceleration each time around it's not super difficult either. This is basically how the whole elimination part went. There was a crash on the second to last elimination lap. I think it was a military academy rider. I don't know what happened, but hopefully he's alright. Alan neutralized us for a lap, and then he pulled the last rider. The scratch was pretty uneventful. I might have tried an attack. I don't really remember. I found myself at the front with about a lap and a half, so I figured I would just try to diesel in. It almost worked, but I got edged out at the line, which put me in second place.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337263
After this was a 15 lap Points race with four sprints. I couldn't figure out how the sprint were supposed to be set up because usually they're at even intervals, but Alan said it was just like a 16 lap, but he would just take out one of the laps at the beginning. Works for me. I was feeling the lack of food by now, so I was just planning on sitting in for a little bit, then dropping out. Josh was feeling the same way, so we decided we would try to alternate hammering on the front with Francisco, just because we could. I found myself stuck back a bit during the neutral lap, so I couldn't really help out, but they tried it for a couple of laps. Eventually I was able to get up front and hammer for a little. I came in second in the first sprint, fourth in the second. After this I basically sat in the back. I would try little accelerations here and there, but it was mostly from me debating deep down inside if I really wanted to keep racing or not. I finally figured I would sit through the whole race and sat up on the last lap. I was happy with my results for the night.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214337252
This concluded the 3/4 races. It was really starting to get dark by now, so the other fields' races were abbreviated a bit. Everyone got three races in though, so I'd call that a success. I came in second overall in the omnium, behind Francisco. Next week will be the last twilight race of the year, so hopefully we can end the season with another good turrnout. My guess is there'll be some short races due to the earlier sunsets now. Results are posted here:
http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2012/Kissena12TwilightSeriesWeek16.pdf
EDIT: all these races were done in my typical 90" (50x15) gear.
2012.39: 8/20-8/26 - Post-Race
These next two weeks will most likely mark my gentle descent into the off season. We'll see if I actually keep up with the blog in the off-season this year.
Sunday: My knees were hurting a bit, so I took it easy and worked on the boat a little. It should be ready to rock after labor day.
Saturday: I felt motivated to do some hills. Originally, I was thinking about doing a long steady ride, but switched to something more punishing on the way out. I gave sheldrake a big effort, and didn't feel like I really recovered after that. There was a patch of missing road on Liberty, which slowed me down, but looking at my time for it, I actually was riding pretty close to my PR. I guess the sluggishness was more mental. It might have been a nutrition issue again, though. I really aught to read more about sports nutrition as I think that's really one of my weak points right now.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214888920
NP/IF/TSS: 209W/0.903/160
Friday: I was originally planning on either doing the Kreb morning ride or Kreb race, but I ended up helping Dan with another project all day.
Thursday: Hung over. No riding.
Wednesday: Raced at Kissena. Check out the race report. Afterward, I went to the 'Premium Rush' afterparty thing. A bunch of team-mates were there. It was fun.
Tuesday: No riding.
Monday: My legs were feeling much better today, so I figured I would get out on the bike again. I was originally planning on heading to Port Jeff and maybe hitting a couple of the steeper climbs there, but on the way out I decided it was a beautiful day, so why not try something a little longer. I dropped on over to bellport to stop by the water and visit the Kreb. Jen was looking for a 650c fork with a 1" steerer, and I happened to remember that the Kreb used to have a little red wagon full of them. As my luck generally goes, the wagon was now full of water bottles and all the forks had been sold on ebay or something. Boo. I took a small detour on the way back past my uncle's old house, almost got smashed to bits by a moving truck in yaphank, and started to feel like bonking somewhere around church street. Got home alive though, so that's what's important.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213051252
NP/IF/TSS: 161W/0.696/150
Sunday: My knees were hurting a bit, so I took it easy and worked on the boat a little. It should be ready to rock after labor day.
Saturday: I felt motivated to do some hills. Originally, I was thinking about doing a long steady ride, but switched to something more punishing on the way out. I gave sheldrake a big effort, and didn't feel like I really recovered after that. There was a patch of missing road on Liberty, which slowed me down, but looking at my time for it, I actually was riding pretty close to my PR. I guess the sluggishness was more mental. It might have been a nutrition issue again, though. I really aught to read more about sports nutrition as I think that's really one of my weak points right now.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/214888920
NP/IF/TSS: 209W/0.903/160
Friday: I was originally planning on either doing the Kreb morning ride or Kreb race, but I ended up helping Dan with another project all day.
Thursday: Hung over. No riding.
Wednesday: Raced at Kissena. Check out the race report. Afterward, I went to the 'Premium Rush' afterparty thing. A bunch of team-mates were there. It was fun.
Tuesday: No riding.
Monday: My legs were feeling much better today, so I figured I would get out on the bike again. I was originally planning on heading to Port Jeff and maybe hitting a couple of the steeper climbs there, but on the way out I decided it was a beautiful day, so why not try something a little longer. I dropped on over to bellport to stop by the water and visit the Kreb. Jen was looking for a 650c fork with a 1" steerer, and I happened to remember that the Kreb used to have a little red wagon full of them. As my luck generally goes, the wagon was now full of water bottles and all the forks had been sold on ebay or something. Boo. I took a small detour on the way back past my uncle's old house, almost got smashed to bits by a moving truck in yaphank, and started to feel like bonking somewhere around church street. Got home alive though, so that's what's important.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213051252
NP/IF/TSS: 161W/0.696/150
21.8.12
Race: NY State Track Championships - 8/18 - Cat 1/2/3
The weather this year was really nice. Not too hot, not too windy. Just a little wind from time to time alternating between coming out of the east or northeast, I would say. The racing started at 1pm, so I was mostly awake. Despite my best efforts of trying to be responsible and not drinking the night before, I still didn't get a very good night's rest, which was compounded by my brother and Brean calling me in the morning. I wasn't feeling too hungry when I woke up, so I had a small plate of leftover fried rice and got on the road. I packed a cooler with some orangeade and HEED, which I hoped would hold me over for the afternoon. Along the way in, I stopped at Roadworx (state champion of bike shops) in order to pick up some handlebars that I had ordered a few months ago (whoops), some new cleats and some pink bar tape. I wasn't able to talk for too long though, and I headed to the track.
When I got there, it was time for the usual set up the tent, put on the skin suit, pin the number, ride around, change wheels, hear the bell to stop warming up. Yet another year of not warming up in my race gear. I did bring my rollers to warm up with, though.
The first event was a team sprint. Andy, Keith and I were the only cat 1/2/3 rhinos to show up, so naturally we were a team, which we had planned on before. The idea was for Andy to start, Keith to do second lap, and I would bring it home. I don't know what happened, but the whole thing felt a little off to me. I think Andy had a rough start, Keith's lap felt slower than last week, and I definitely wasn't where I wanted to be. Boo. The transitions felt good, though, and we didn't let any gaps form. I guess we were just off. Hopefully we can train together more for next year. The official time was a 1:29.26, which is not bad at all. I was hoping to stay ahead of 1:30. Regardless, it was fast enough to get Keith and Andy a bronze.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201125
At this point you might be asking yourself, "Why do you say good enough to give Keith and Andy a bronze? What did you get, Mark?" Well...you see, Al Barouh and Andrew Wilhelm couldn't find a third person, so I said I would ride with them. Originally Andy was going to, but I figured it would be better for my omnium odds to be on both teams. Andrew was first lap, I was second, Al was third. I tried to clear my legs before the race, but my lap felt just as painful as before, if not more. Also, for some reason not yet known to man, I had this sudden fear that my skinsuit was unzipped around turns 3/4 of my lap, and so I took my hand off the bars to check. This gave me a sudden violent wobble at the front end, which scared the crap out of me and Al. Sorry again, Al. Either way, this team sprint ended up being the fastest with a 1:28.87. Second place went to Andrew LaCorte (I suddenly realize there's a lot of Andrews at the track), Doug Rothlein, and Kim Edwards with 1:29.10.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201123
On a side note, both team sprints were done with the usual 50x15. Also, looking at my garmin data, comparing the splits between both team sprints both first laps were the same at 33.8s, then the rhino sprint had two 28s laps, whereas with Al, my second lap was 29s, which means he must have put out a 26s lap. Oh my data! (I guess this also means our slower team sprint time comes down to me being slow)
Next was the Kilo. My legs were extra tired, and now I was also feeling hungry. I had a gel at some point in the early day. Maybe before racing, maybe now. Who really knows. Regardless, I gave up on my idea of switching to a harder gear and stuck with the 90". There was much debate on the merits of starting on the home stretch or the back stretch based on wind. Karl came to the track around this time to watch, and we decided that the home stretch would be smarter, as you start into the wind, which is slow regardless, but you can finish with the wind, which should help with the fade. I don't know if that actually worked or not. My legs felt dead (this will be a recurring theme), but I didn't feel like I died too terribly, and I made sure to stay good and low. So kudos to me. In the end, I managed only a paltry 1:17.50, which my astute readership will immediately realize was exactly the same time as at opening weekend. Strange things are afoot in the kilo world. This was a second best time, as Al was able to pop out a 1:16.62, which he was also unimpressed with. I don't know if these slower times were due to the wind, or having done the team sprints first. I think all the other times, Kilos were the first event. Hard to say.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201120
After this was a short break, so I rode around the track. Next was the 25 lap points race. Talking to Karl, we came up with some team tactics, which I think worked to perfection. I would make sure to stay behind Al, except during sprints, where I would stay in front of him. This of course is easier said than done, but I think we did admirably. Keith and JP attacked the field to take some heat off the rest of us and managed to take a lap. This meant Al and I were racing for third. Backtracking a bit, I edged out Al for the first sprint, he beat me for the other four, I believe. There were a couple of times where I got edged out by Andy and Keith, which perhaps we could work on for next year. The final laps were particularly painful for me as Andy and Keith took turns putting the screws to Al on the front. In the end, JP won, Keith got second, Al third, I got fourth and Andy got fifth.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201118
Then came the 20 lap scratch race. We decided on similar tactics. The race started out slow(ish) with everyone just alternating pulls on the front at around 24mph. JP and keith attacked off the front again, while the rest of us just kept watching each other. I tried for a small dig to see how quickly I could get back up to the two off the front just in case, which took about a lap. Al was right on my wheel, so I sat up before catching up. Al made a few attacks, otherwise everything was status quo. The final two laps Andy got to the front to play leadout train for me, really drilling it at the end. I jumped and kept my head down to the line, just staying ahead of Al to counter the omnium points he got in the points race. The final results were JP, Keith, me, Al, Andrew (not Andy).
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201114
After this was another break and then the flying 200s leading to match sprints. At this point I was in second, two points down to Al. Then he got a call that he had to pick up his girlfriend from the airport. Sadly, the airport happened to be Newark, so a quick pick up and return was out of the question. We made a gentleman's agreement between racers that I would not try to beat him in his absence to steal the coveted state champion jersey. I knew this would be near impossible for me to do anyhow, as it would require getting second place in the match sprints (omnium points only go three deep for match sprints), and both LaCorte and Keiran (Irish national team rider) sat out of all other races after the team sprint in order to dominate the sprints.
For the flying 200, I decided to go with a 50x13, which is something like a 104" gear. I couldn't remember if I had used a 13 or 14 last year, so I just figured bigger is better (as it turns out, I used a 14t last year). That said, it sure felt heavy, but I popped out a 12.4s flying 200 for the second seed, so hooray big gears.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201109
The rest of the sprints were done in a 50x14, which I for some reason thought was a 92", but really it's a 96.5" gear. My first sprint was a three up against Keiran and Keith. I was first rider, so I had to lead out. I originally was thinking about trying to kilo Keiran, but chickened out at the start. I rolled along just looking ahead, finally looking back in turn one. What I saw was awesome. I had a roughly 5 bikelength gap, with Keiran looking back at Keith. I jumped hard, which felt really slow with that big gear, and kept my head down. Around and I heard the bell, staying on the gas. I looked underneath me a few times on the backstretch as I was really expecting to see Keiran leaving me in the dust at this point, but he only came by in turn four, just beating me at the line by a bikelength (maybe two). We rolled around and joked a bit.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201108
As fate would have it, since there were so few cat 1/2/3 riders left by this time of day, these rides basically were semi-finals, which means had I won, I would have completely screwed up the agreement I made with Al and been a real ass by moving in to the finals. Leave it to me to almost fuck that up.
The last sprint (thank the lord!) was for third place as a four-up with Andy, Keith, Patrick of the USMA and me. Andy was pretty tore up by now, so he was just going to sit in the back. Keith realized that if he won, he would have enough points to beat JP for third place, and I didn't really care at all, so I told Keith I would help him the best I could. Keith ended up attacking early, while Patrick kept looking back at me. I, on the other hand, was just matching pace with him and trying to keep him up at the rail so he couldn't get a good attack in. What a jerk I am. When it became a clear win for Keith, I moved out of Patrick's way so he could sprint, and then I sprinted around him.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201105
This concluded the state championships. In the end, Al won the overall, as well as a bunch of other races, I got second overall with 1 gold, two silvers and one bronze, keith got third with two silvers and four bronzes. Andy, the ever faithful team-mate, sadly only came out with one bronze medal. Results can be found here: http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2012/StateChamps12.pdf
By this time it was around 8pm and getting dark, so we all hustled to get all our gear together. My brother and his wife stopped by for most of the program, left to get food, and then came back to help pack. It was nice to see him. I originally was hoping to eat with them, but this worked out well as I was now able to eat with the team. Speaking of the team, Brean was shaking things up in the cat 4s. It's good to see he's healing from his elbow injury. In the women's field, the two possible future rhinos Jen and Shane got 2nd and 3rd overall, respectively. Current rhino Heather brought home a solid 6th overall, while animating the mass start races a bit. Back to post-race activities, Keith dropped off Andy at home, and then went to Wild Ginger with Jen, Heather, Shane and I. It was a great end to a loooooong day.
Alright, that's all the news that's fit to print. Thanks again to Alan, the officials, the spectators, and all the racers who showed up! (Speaking of which, USMA had a really impressive showing of riders. Keep that up, you guys!)
Oh! Tad also showed up to watch the races. It was nice to see him, too. Hopefully he gets his knee injury worked out soon.
When I got there, it was time for the usual set up the tent, put on the skin suit, pin the number, ride around, change wheels, hear the bell to stop warming up. Yet another year of not warming up in my race gear. I did bring my rollers to warm up with, though.
The first event was a team sprint. Andy, Keith and I were the only cat 1/2/3 rhinos to show up, so naturally we were a team, which we had planned on before. The idea was for Andy to start, Keith to do second lap, and I would bring it home. I don't know what happened, but the whole thing felt a little off to me. I think Andy had a rough start, Keith's lap felt slower than last week, and I definitely wasn't where I wanted to be. Boo. The transitions felt good, though, and we didn't let any gaps form. I guess we were just off. Hopefully we can train together more for next year. The official time was a 1:29.26, which is not bad at all. I was hoping to stay ahead of 1:30. Regardless, it was fast enough to get Keith and Andy a bronze.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201125
At this point you might be asking yourself, "Why do you say good enough to give Keith and Andy a bronze? What did you get, Mark?" Well...you see, Al Barouh and Andrew Wilhelm couldn't find a third person, so I said I would ride with them. Originally Andy was going to, but I figured it would be better for my omnium odds to be on both teams. Andrew was first lap, I was second, Al was third. I tried to clear my legs before the race, but my lap felt just as painful as before, if not more. Also, for some reason not yet known to man, I had this sudden fear that my skinsuit was unzipped around turns 3/4 of my lap, and so I took my hand off the bars to check. This gave me a sudden violent wobble at the front end, which scared the crap out of me and Al. Sorry again, Al. Either way, this team sprint ended up being the fastest with a 1:28.87. Second place went to Andrew LaCorte (I suddenly realize there's a lot of Andrews at the track), Doug Rothlein, and Kim Edwards with 1:29.10.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201123
On a side note, both team sprints were done with the usual 50x15. Also, looking at my garmin data, comparing the splits between both team sprints both first laps were the same at 33.8s, then the rhino sprint had two 28s laps, whereas with Al, my second lap was 29s, which means he must have put out a 26s lap. Oh my data! (I guess this also means our slower team sprint time comes down to me being slow)
Next was the Kilo. My legs were extra tired, and now I was also feeling hungry. I had a gel at some point in the early day. Maybe before racing, maybe now. Who really knows. Regardless, I gave up on my idea of switching to a harder gear and stuck with the 90". There was much debate on the merits of starting on the home stretch or the back stretch based on wind. Karl came to the track around this time to watch, and we decided that the home stretch would be smarter, as you start into the wind, which is slow regardless, but you can finish with the wind, which should help with the fade. I don't know if that actually worked or not. My legs felt dead (this will be a recurring theme), but I didn't feel like I died too terribly, and I made sure to stay good and low. So kudos to me. In the end, I managed only a paltry 1:17.50, which my astute readership will immediately realize was exactly the same time as at opening weekend. Strange things are afoot in the kilo world. This was a second best time, as Al was able to pop out a 1:16.62, which he was also unimpressed with. I don't know if these slower times were due to the wind, or having done the team sprints first. I think all the other times, Kilos were the first event. Hard to say.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201120
After this was a short break, so I rode around the track. Next was the 25 lap points race. Talking to Karl, we came up with some team tactics, which I think worked to perfection. I would make sure to stay behind Al, except during sprints, where I would stay in front of him. This of course is easier said than done, but I think we did admirably. Keith and JP attacked the field to take some heat off the rest of us and managed to take a lap. This meant Al and I were racing for third. Backtracking a bit, I edged out Al for the first sprint, he beat me for the other four, I believe. There were a couple of times where I got edged out by Andy and Keith, which perhaps we could work on for next year. The final laps were particularly painful for me as Andy and Keith took turns putting the screws to Al on the front. In the end, JP won, Keith got second, Al third, I got fourth and Andy got fifth.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201118
Then came the 20 lap scratch race. We decided on similar tactics. The race started out slow(ish) with everyone just alternating pulls on the front at around 24mph. JP and keith attacked off the front again, while the rest of us just kept watching each other. I tried for a small dig to see how quickly I could get back up to the two off the front just in case, which took about a lap. Al was right on my wheel, so I sat up before catching up. Al made a few attacks, otherwise everything was status quo. The final two laps Andy got to the front to play leadout train for me, really drilling it at the end. I jumped and kept my head down to the line, just staying ahead of Al to counter the omnium points he got in the points race. The final results were JP, Keith, me, Al, Andrew (not Andy).
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201114
After this was another break and then the flying 200s leading to match sprints. At this point I was in second, two points down to Al. Then he got a call that he had to pick up his girlfriend from the airport. Sadly, the airport happened to be Newark, so a quick pick up and return was out of the question. We made a gentleman's agreement between racers that I would not try to beat him in his absence to steal the coveted state champion jersey. I knew this would be near impossible for me to do anyhow, as it would require getting second place in the match sprints (omnium points only go three deep for match sprints), and both LaCorte and Keiran (Irish national team rider) sat out of all other races after the team sprint in order to dominate the sprints.
For the flying 200, I decided to go with a 50x13, which is something like a 104" gear. I couldn't remember if I had used a 13 or 14 last year, so I just figured bigger is better (as it turns out, I used a 14t last year). That said, it sure felt heavy, but I popped out a 12.4s flying 200 for the second seed, so hooray big gears.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201109
The rest of the sprints were done in a 50x14, which I for some reason thought was a 92", but really it's a 96.5" gear. My first sprint was a three up against Keiran and Keith. I was first rider, so I had to lead out. I originally was thinking about trying to kilo Keiran, but chickened out at the start. I rolled along just looking ahead, finally looking back in turn one. What I saw was awesome. I had a roughly 5 bikelength gap, with Keiran looking back at Keith. I jumped hard, which felt really slow with that big gear, and kept my head down. Around and I heard the bell, staying on the gas. I looked underneath me a few times on the backstretch as I was really expecting to see Keiran leaving me in the dust at this point, but he only came by in turn four, just beating me at the line by a bikelength (maybe two). We rolled around and joked a bit.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201108
As fate would have it, since there were so few cat 1/2/3 riders left by this time of day, these rides basically were semi-finals, which means had I won, I would have completely screwed up the agreement I made with Al and been a real ass by moving in to the finals. Leave it to me to almost fuck that up.
The last sprint (thank the lord!) was for third place as a four-up with Andy, Keith, Patrick of the USMA and me. Andy was pretty tore up by now, so he was just going to sit in the back. Keith realized that if he won, he would have enough points to beat JP for third place, and I didn't really care at all, so I told Keith I would help him the best I could. Keith ended up attacking early, while Patrick kept looking back at me. I, on the other hand, was just matching pace with him and trying to keep him up at the rail so he couldn't get a good attack in. What a jerk I am. When it became a clear win for Keith, I moved out of Patrick's way so he could sprint, and then I sprinted around him.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212201105
This concluded the state championships. In the end, Al won the overall, as well as a bunch of other races, I got second overall with 1 gold, two silvers and one bronze, keith got third with two silvers and four bronzes. Andy, the ever faithful team-mate, sadly only came out with one bronze medal. Results can be found here: http://kissenavelodrome.info/results/2012/StateChamps12.pdf
By this time it was around 8pm and getting dark, so we all hustled to get all our gear together. My brother and his wife stopped by for most of the program, left to get food, and then came back to help pack. It was nice to see him. I originally was hoping to eat with them, but this worked out well as I was now able to eat with the team. Speaking of the team, Brean was shaking things up in the cat 4s. It's good to see he's healing from his elbow injury. In the women's field, the two possible future rhinos Jen and Shane got 2nd and 3rd overall, respectively. Current rhino Heather brought home a solid 6th overall, while animating the mass start races a bit. Back to post-race activities, Keith dropped off Andy at home, and then went to Wild Ginger with Jen, Heather, Shane and I. It was a great end to a loooooong day.
Alright, that's all the news that's fit to print. Thanks again to Alan, the officials, the spectators, and all the racers who showed up! (Speaking of which, USMA had a really impressive showing of riders. Keep that up, you guys!)
Oh! Tad also showed up to watch the races. It was nice to see him, too. Hopefully he gets his knee injury worked out soon.
16.8.12
Race: T-Town Fuji Super Tuesdays 8/14 - Stagiares
I woke up not feeling particularly hungry, so I just had a glass of juice for breakfast and then lounged around until it was time to head to brooklyn to meet up with the rest of the team. I threw a banana and a pack of pop-tarts in the car with me and drove off. Traffic on the LIE from street sweepers cleaning the HOV lane got me to Keith's place about 20 minutes late or so. Andy, Jen, Keith and I all jumped into Keith's car real quick with the 4 bikes on the back, and we headed to PA. Instead of taking the Verrazano, we went across Manhattan into Jersey. It definitely went a lot quicker this way. We stopped along the way to get some pizza and bagels and made it to t-town by maybe 5:15pm. We all rode around the bike path thingy in the park across the street from the velodrome for a few laps and then came back to register and get ready. We warmed up a bit, wondering if they would combine fields as the turnout looked very light. I thought maybe it was from the threat of rain for the evening, but Andrew Brennan said the past weeks were light. Maybe everyone is just burning out or something. There were still 6 riders from the Polish national team who definitely were not burnt out. The fields ended up staying separate, with 11 riders in the Stagiares. Good enough to get upgrade points.
The first race was an Unknown Distance Scratch. I told the guys that I figured the race would probably be around 5 laps, so I decided I would take my usual suicide attack after around 2 laps and then see if I could hold it to the end. Non-team Keith attacked on the first lap, and then I attacked hoping to bridge and maybe get a two person move going, but he told me his legs weren't recovered from a road race he did over the weekend, so I just went past and kept my head down. Around, around, around, hoping to hear the bell. Finally the bell was rung on lap seven, so I gave it my all hoping to stay ahead, but the pack caught and passed me by the end of the backstretch. Fair enough. I don't know how Keith or Andy did in the sprint.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745140
Next was a ten lap Tempo. Now that my legs were already feeling good and heavy from the first effort, I switched to just sitting in and hoping for a lucky sprint. This is how it played out. I sat in, eventually attacking for a first place across the line on one of the laps, maybe 4 laps in or so. After that, I kept trying to get up to the front to take some second place points. In hindsight, I should have just tried to recover more and then gone for a hard sprint at the end, as I was always too far back for points. Regardless, it was enough to give me 5th overall. I think Andy said he got second place in one of the sprints somewhere in there.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745125
The final Stagiare race was an Elimination. I was determined to not be the first out of the race like last time. I clipped and strapped in at the ready area, so I was ready to go. Through the race, I stayed near the back, mostly since I was barely hanging on, but it was nice to play the devil a little bit. The number of riders went down and down, including mini Nothstein. Finally, there were five of us left, which was all I was hoping for. The next sprint, Keith and I were the two at the back, so I sat up to keep him in. I was fading hard anyhow, so I figured he had a better chance. This gave me 5th place again, with Keith getting third.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745109
This concluded the Stagiare Omnium. Andrew thought he heard I got 5th overall, which would have given me a $10 payout. No upgrade points, but money is money. Turns out I was in 6th place, one point shy. Oh well.
Finally, Andy talked me into trying the Pro/Am feature. This was a 30 lap scratch. I was jonesing for a beer, so I figured I would just sit in for 5 laps or so. Whenever I got dropped off the back. I stayed near the back to middle the whole time, just riding the surges in speed. One Polish rider went off the front and the rest of the polish team slowed the pace up enough to bunch everyone back up again. Andy attacked to try to bridge and the speed went straight up. It was amazing, the Polish guys started shouting and you could see them sprinting out of the saddle, noses to the bars. Andy was able to stay in no-man's land for a few laps, but eventually dropped back again and slid out the back. I was still sitting pretty past the half-way point of the race, but finally I saw a guy looking like he was going to slide down on the back of the group, so I opened a gap for him to drop in. He didn't, and now I was left with a growing gap to try to close. Which I didn't, so I just sat up. I made it 18 laps, so I was happy.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745100
I packed up my stuff and ran to the concessions, but they were closed up. Oh well. No beer for me.
As for Jen, I thought she looked good in the pro women's races. The polish women were mostly beating on everyone else, but she held in there well. I think within a few weeks she'll really be mixing it up with them.
We all packed up the car and headed out for some late night burritos. Sadly, the place was closed, so we stopped at a supermarket instead. I had a pack of mike&ikes, two slices of watermellon, and a big jug of limeade. Eatin' right. When we stopped for gas on the way back, I also had two taquitos from 7-11. That was a terrible idea. Back in Brooklyn, I packed my car and Jen offered up her couch for me to crash on, which I should have taken, but I opted for driving home instead. I was kind of worried I didn't close the back door to the house. The drive back sucked, with massive downpours from a big lightning storm. I stopped at the Velvet Lounge for a quick beer and to say hello to Margot, then went home and passed out.
I feel like these race reports are getting too long winded. Eh.
The first race was an Unknown Distance Scratch. I told the guys that I figured the race would probably be around 5 laps, so I decided I would take my usual suicide attack after around 2 laps and then see if I could hold it to the end. Non-team Keith attacked on the first lap, and then I attacked hoping to bridge and maybe get a two person move going, but he told me his legs weren't recovered from a road race he did over the weekend, so I just went past and kept my head down. Around, around, around, hoping to hear the bell. Finally the bell was rung on lap seven, so I gave it my all hoping to stay ahead, but the pack caught and passed me by the end of the backstretch. Fair enough. I don't know how Keith or Andy did in the sprint.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745140
Next was a ten lap Tempo. Now that my legs were already feeling good and heavy from the first effort, I switched to just sitting in and hoping for a lucky sprint. This is how it played out. I sat in, eventually attacking for a first place across the line on one of the laps, maybe 4 laps in or so. After that, I kept trying to get up to the front to take some second place points. In hindsight, I should have just tried to recover more and then gone for a hard sprint at the end, as I was always too far back for points. Regardless, it was enough to give me 5th overall. I think Andy said he got second place in one of the sprints somewhere in there.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745125
The final Stagiare race was an Elimination. I was determined to not be the first out of the race like last time. I clipped and strapped in at the ready area, so I was ready to go. Through the race, I stayed near the back, mostly since I was barely hanging on, but it was nice to play the devil a little bit. The number of riders went down and down, including mini Nothstein. Finally, there were five of us left, which was all I was hoping for. The next sprint, Keith and I were the two at the back, so I sat up to keep him in. I was fading hard anyhow, so I figured he had a better chance. This gave me 5th place again, with Keith getting third.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745109
This concluded the Stagiare Omnium. Andrew thought he heard I got 5th overall, which would have given me a $10 payout. No upgrade points, but money is money. Turns out I was in 6th place, one point shy. Oh well.
Finally, Andy talked me into trying the Pro/Am feature. This was a 30 lap scratch. I was jonesing for a beer, so I figured I would just sit in for 5 laps or so. Whenever I got dropped off the back. I stayed near the back to middle the whole time, just riding the surges in speed. One Polish rider went off the front and the rest of the polish team slowed the pace up enough to bunch everyone back up again. Andy attacked to try to bridge and the speed went straight up. It was amazing, the Polish guys started shouting and you could see them sprinting out of the saddle, noses to the bars. Andy was able to stay in no-man's land for a few laps, but eventually dropped back again and slid out the back. I was still sitting pretty past the half-way point of the race, but finally I saw a guy looking like he was going to slide down on the back of the group, so I opened a gap for him to drop in. He didn't, and now I was left with a growing gap to try to close. Which I didn't, so I just sat up. I made it 18 laps, so I was happy.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210745100
I packed up my stuff and ran to the concessions, but they were closed up. Oh well. No beer for me.
As for Jen, I thought she looked good in the pro women's races. The polish women were mostly beating on everyone else, but she held in there well. I think within a few weeks she'll really be mixing it up with them.
We all packed up the car and headed out for some late night burritos. Sadly, the place was closed, so we stopped at a supermarket instead. I had a pack of mike&ikes, two slices of watermellon, and a big jug of limeade. Eatin' right. When we stopped for gas on the way back, I also had two taquitos from 7-11. That was a terrible idea. Back in Brooklyn, I packed my car and Jen offered up her couch for me to crash on, which I should have taken, but I opted for driving home instead. I was kind of worried I didn't close the back door to the house. The drive back sucked, with massive downpours from a big lightning storm. I stopped at the Velvet Lounge for a quick beer and to say hello to Margot, then went home and passed out.
I feel like these race reports are getting too long winded. Eh.
2012.38: 8/13-8/19 - Race!
States is this weekend, so I'm using this week to pretend I've been training and now peaking.
Sunday: Real short ride to the new local vineyard to pick up a bottle of wine. The place kinda sucked. I was hoping to ride more, but my legs were dead.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212908550
NP/IF/TSS: 157W/0.678/18
Saturday: NY State track championships. See the race report.
Friday: No riding. Hung out with my brother. We tried out his folding kayak, then went swimming.
Thursday: Rode around with dan for a little. I think we just went to stony brook.
Wednesday: Planned on racing at Kissena, but it got cancelled due to rain and thunderstorms. I then aimed for a backup plan of riding the wednesday hill ride with Ben and others, but instead ended up just sleeping through most of the afternoon and evening. I felt really good afterward, so I think it was well worth it.
Tuesday: Raced at T-town. Check the race report.
Monday: Rode to the lighthouse and west meadow as usual. That's about all there is to say. I think I was supposed to be riding easy. I tried the old field sprint again, tied my fastest time, but didn't get the KOM. I sat up a little at the end. That might have been the deciding difference in time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210277119
NP/IF/TSS: 199W/0.861/97
Sunday: Real short ride to the new local vineyard to pick up a bottle of wine. The place kinda sucked. I was hoping to ride more, but my legs were dead.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/212908550
NP/IF/TSS: 157W/0.678/18
Saturday: NY State track championships. See the race report.
Friday: No riding. Hung out with my brother. We tried out his folding kayak, then went swimming.
Thursday: Rode around with dan for a little. I think we just went to stony brook.
Wednesday: Planned on racing at Kissena, but it got cancelled due to rain and thunderstorms. I then aimed for a backup plan of riding the wednesday hill ride with Ben and others, but instead ended up just sleeping through most of the afternoon and evening. I felt really good afterward, so I think it was well worth it.
Tuesday: Raced at T-town. Check the race report.
Monday: Rode to the lighthouse and west meadow as usual. That's about all there is to say. I think I was supposed to be riding easy. I tried the old field sprint again, tied my fastest time, but didn't get the KOM. I sat up a little at the end. That might have been the deciding difference in time.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/210277119
NP/IF/TSS: 199W/0.861/97
10.8.12
Race: Kissena Twilight Series 8/8 - Cat 3/4
I woke up feeling really depressed today. I was debating not racing, but since I already had a race paid for from the previous week's rainout I thought it would be for the best to head out and clear my mind. The schedule called for Kilos and team time trials, but Alan told us that we would actually be doing team sprints instead. The weather was pretty nice, actually. There was a decent little wind coming on and off. It was coming out of the southwest, I would say as it was mostly blowing across track, but you could also feel it on the backstretch.
Keith was the only other Pink Rhino that was racing, but Dave and Aaron both showed up to hang out. Well, Jen was also there, but I'm still not sure if she's going to the rhino side or not. We started with 500m TTs for the good amount of juniors that showed up and the women and masters. Josh S and I helped hold them at their start and then we moved on to the kilos. Josh went first among the kilos and set the standard to beat with a 1:17.62. Keith and Mike W were also able to break the 1:20 mark, with Mike having already done a 500m as well. I went near the end. I wasn't really intending to, I was just enjoying sitting in Keith's camping chair too much and I didn't see any reason to give that up to stand around.
I felt a lot more motivated this time than I did at opening weekend and I'd say it definitely showed. I went with the usual 50x15, but I did switch starting feet this time (left foot forward today). I didn't really notice any difference between the two. I had a good start, sitting near the beginning of the backstretch, kept up a good head of steam pedaling around 116 rpm and finally feeling the hurt with 200m to go. I could tell I was getting sluggish, but looking at my cadence I was still at 109 rpm, so I wasn't worried. Final time was a 1:16.11, which is tied with my previous personal best. This gave me the big ol' win for the kilos.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208326743
Next was the team sprint. We didn't have enough rhinos to create a full rhino team, but Andreas K asked if we wanted to race with him. We agreed, and decided the order would be by kilo time. This seems to create a very balanced team. Andreas had a good start and was really able to ramp it up. Keith maintained the pace, and I brought it home. The whole thing felt really good. I felt like we were going really fast the whole time, but I wasn't hurting by the time I had to take my lap. We ended with a 1:30.50, which was the winning time among the four teams. Second place was the masters powerhouse team of Mike W, Pete Rizzo, and Derrick Davis. I won't lie, I was afraid they would give us a run for our money.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208326732
Afterward, I went over to Arby's with Alan, and then drove home feeling a whole lot better than when I woke up in the morning. Track racing has a great way of doing that for you. I truly thank my team-mates and everybody I race with for being such a great group of people.
Keith was the only other Pink Rhino that was racing, but Dave and Aaron both showed up to hang out. Well, Jen was also there, but I'm still not sure if she's going to the rhino side or not. We started with 500m TTs for the good amount of juniors that showed up and the women and masters. Josh S and I helped hold them at their start and then we moved on to the kilos. Josh went first among the kilos and set the standard to beat with a 1:17.62. Keith and Mike W were also able to break the 1:20 mark, with Mike having already done a 500m as well. I went near the end. I wasn't really intending to, I was just enjoying sitting in Keith's camping chair too much and I didn't see any reason to give that up to stand around.
I felt a lot more motivated this time than I did at opening weekend and I'd say it definitely showed. I went with the usual 50x15, but I did switch starting feet this time (left foot forward today). I didn't really notice any difference between the two. I had a good start, sitting near the beginning of the backstretch, kept up a good head of steam pedaling around 116 rpm and finally feeling the hurt with 200m to go. I could tell I was getting sluggish, but looking at my cadence I was still at 109 rpm, so I wasn't worried. Final time was a 1:16.11, which is tied with my previous personal best. This gave me the big ol' win for the kilos.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208326743
Next was the team sprint. We didn't have enough rhinos to create a full rhino team, but Andreas K asked if we wanted to race with him. We agreed, and decided the order would be by kilo time. This seems to create a very balanced team. Andreas had a good start and was really able to ramp it up. Keith maintained the pace, and I brought it home. The whole thing felt really good. I felt like we were going really fast the whole time, but I wasn't hurting by the time I had to take my lap. We ended with a 1:30.50, which was the winning time among the four teams. Second place was the masters powerhouse team of Mike W, Pete Rizzo, and Derrick Davis. I won't lie, I was afraid they would give us a run for our money.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208326732
Afterward, I went over to Arby's with Alan, and then drove home feeling a whole lot better than when I woke up in the morning. Track racing has a great way of doing that for you. I truly thank my team-mates and everybody I race with for being such a great group of people.
9.8.12
2012.37: 8/6 - 8/12
Sunday: No riding again. Helped out at the CRCA club championships. For some stupid reason, I didn't see the point of bringing my bike. Yeah, I'm dumb sometimes. Regardless, it was a fun event. Josh got a 1:15 kilo, I was impressed. Tad stopped by with his dogs, too, so I talked to him for a bit.
Saturday: No riding. Too muchdrinking carbo-loading instead.
Friday: Did some cadence work. The usual 1 minute on, 4 off deal. 155-165-175-165-155rpm. I felt really good on the way up, 170 hurt, and so did the way back down. I'd call it a success.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208982594
Thursday: For the sake of full disclosure, I spent all of today alternating between feeling sleepy and feeling like I had to poop. I did find some time to ride to the pharmacy to pick up some new batteries for the ol' powertap. I was going to try them out by riding up sheldrake and fruita in port jeff, but I opted for another nap instead. Stand by for the results. EDIT: I just looked into it, these batteries lasted roughly as long as the other ones at a mere 200 hours. Half of the reported 400h lifetime.
Wednesday: Raced at the track. See race report. I also rode around the neighborhood to try to clear my mind a little. No data for that.
Tuesday: Through the wonders of the facetubes, I was able to get Karl to give me some coaching and it was decided that I would do sprints today. Of course my powertap cut out again before the first sprint, so I have no meaningful data. I've also shifted my sprint start location a little bit. I now start by the crosswalk at the dune cut-out and finish at the first cross walk by the beach house. This gives a shorter, more realistic sprint and I think it makes for a safer sprint as I can abort the sprint effort more easily now if anyone is looking like they'll walk across the cut-out crosswalk. As far as my ability to complete these new intervals, I think I alternated good, meh, good, meh, good. That said, here's a pile of numbers:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207852574
NP/IF/TSS: N/A (incomplete data)
Interval - Max Speed (MPH) - Max Power (W) - Max Cadence (RPM)
1 - 33.4 - ? - 130
2 - 33.0 - ? - 128
3 - 32.4 - ? - 124
4 - 32.1 - ? - 124
5 - 32.7 - ? - 125
Monday: Rest day. Rested.
Saturday: No riding. Too much
Friday: Did some cadence work. The usual 1 minute on, 4 off deal. 155-165-175-165-155rpm. I felt really good on the way up, 170 hurt, and so did the way back down. I'd call it a success.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/208982594
Thursday: For the sake of full disclosure, I spent all of today alternating between feeling sleepy and feeling like I had to poop. I did find some time to ride to the pharmacy to pick up some new batteries for the ol' powertap. I was going to try them out by riding up sheldrake and fruita in port jeff, but I opted for another nap instead. Stand by for the results. EDIT: I just looked into it, these batteries lasted roughly as long as the other ones at a mere 200 hours. Half of the reported 400h lifetime.
Wednesday: Raced at the track. See race report. I also rode around the neighborhood to try to clear my mind a little. No data for that.
Tuesday: Through the wonders of the facetubes, I was able to get Karl to give me some coaching and it was decided that I would do sprints today. Of course my powertap cut out again before the first sprint, so I have no meaningful data. I've also shifted my sprint start location a little bit. I now start by the crosswalk at the dune cut-out and finish at the first cross walk by the beach house. This gives a shorter, more realistic sprint and I think it makes for a safer sprint as I can abort the sprint effort more easily now if anyone is looking like they'll walk across the cut-out crosswalk. As far as my ability to complete these new intervals, I think I alternated good, meh, good, meh, good. That said, here's a pile of numbers:
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207852574
NP/IF/TSS: N/A (incomplete data)
Interval - Max Speed (MPH) - Max Power (W) - Max Cadence (RPM)
1 - 33.4 - ? - 130
2 - 33.0 - ? - 128
3 - 32.4 - ? - 124
4 - 32.1 - ? - 124
5 - 32.7 - ? - 125
Monday: Rest day. Rested.
5.8.12
Race: Tandemonium!
As you might notice from the ol' weekly synopsis post, I was in PA for a few days. This is because there's a car show/flea market that my family goes to each year. This means that I was up by 7am (hey, it's early for me) with a quick hotel breakfast and then it was off to walk around a few fields in the sweltering heat for five hours. I did have some cool finds though, so I'm certainly not complaining. I'm just saying it's not the best thing to do if you're planning on racing against world level competition later in the day.
Around 1pm, we saw all there was to see at the flea market, so we decided to head back to the hotel. I got a call from Steve that tandemonium might not actually be happening for us as he had miscalculated the time it would take to get to t-town from where he was upstate. A bit later he called again and we agreed that I would head to t-town to register the team and see if we could at least just do the final tandemonium event and skip the sprints.
In the meantime, I took a dip in the hotel pool in order to relax a bit and more importantly cool off. I then headed over to the track to see what our options were. They said just racing the final event would be fine, so I registered us and went to dinner. A burger later, and I was back at the track at a little after 7pm. I started to bring my gear to the infield when Steve drove up. Somehow he was able to cut off at least a half hour of drive time. We rushed our gear to the infield to see if we could still get in our flying lap TT for the sprint seeding, but it was not to be so. That's fine, so we just sit around for a while. We spun around the infield trying to warm up as we both forgot our rollers and watched the rest of the racing.
Finally it was time for tandemonium. A 12 lap scratch with 12 tandems on the track. whooo boy. Our first neutral roll around was given the double gun as someone had spilled a beer between turns 3&4. Getting back on the rail and we heard that the tandem of Diefenbach and mini-Nothstein had a front flat. A quick change later and we were finally good to go. Steve and I decided that the one strategy that would not work was a full 12 lap TT off the front. Particularly since neither of us were warmed up. We decided to take a couple of little attacks to get the legs going, then see how it looked. Of course, just as we were going to sit up for our first attack we hear a prime announced for $40, so we decided to give it a go. Then a couple of laps later another $40 prime. Funny, this is exactly what we said not to do. Standing on the back stretch was Marloe Rodman of Jamaica cheering us on. Finally around turn 4 with 2 or 3 laps to go we got caught and passed by a good amount of teams. In turn 1 of the next lap, the bike got real squirrely for some reason and I was deathly afraid we were going down, but Steve was able to keep it up. We kept the gas on to roll across the line in not dead last place. By the end, my legs felt completely dead. It was a dull kind of dead. A not properly warmed up after spending all day in a hot field kind of dead, you could say.
Still, I'd call the event a success. It cost $65, we won $80, got our names announced a lot, had lots of people cheer for us and Pink Rhino. Yeah, not bad. We'll be back next year.
Around 1pm, we saw all there was to see at the flea market, so we decided to head back to the hotel. I got a call from Steve that tandemonium might not actually be happening for us as he had miscalculated the time it would take to get to t-town from where he was upstate. A bit later he called again and we agreed that I would head to t-town to register the team and see if we could at least just do the final tandemonium event and skip the sprints.
In the meantime, I took a dip in the hotel pool in order to relax a bit and more importantly cool off. I then headed over to the track to see what our options were. They said just racing the final event would be fine, so I registered us and went to dinner. A burger later, and I was back at the track at a little after 7pm. I started to bring my gear to the infield when Steve drove up. Somehow he was able to cut off at least a half hour of drive time. We rushed our gear to the infield to see if we could still get in our flying lap TT for the sprint seeding, but it was not to be so. That's fine, so we just sit around for a while. We spun around the infield trying to warm up as we both forgot our rollers and watched the rest of the racing.
Finally it was time for tandemonium. A 12 lap scratch with 12 tandems on the track. whooo boy. Our first neutral roll around was given the double gun as someone had spilled a beer between turns 3&4. Getting back on the rail and we heard that the tandem of Diefenbach and mini-Nothstein had a front flat. A quick change later and we were finally good to go. Steve and I decided that the one strategy that would not work was a full 12 lap TT off the front. Particularly since neither of us were warmed up. We decided to take a couple of little attacks to get the legs going, then see how it looked. Of course, just as we were going to sit up for our first attack we hear a prime announced for $40, so we decided to give it a go. Then a couple of laps later another $40 prime. Funny, this is exactly what we said not to do. Standing on the back stretch was Marloe Rodman of Jamaica cheering us on. Finally around turn 4 with 2 or 3 laps to go we got caught and passed by a good amount of teams. In turn 1 of the next lap, the bike got real squirrely for some reason and I was deathly afraid we were going down, but Steve was able to keep it up. We kept the gas on to roll across the line in not dead last place. By the end, my legs felt completely dead. It was a dull kind of dead. A not properly warmed up after spending all day in a hot field kind of dead, you could say.
Still, I'd call the event a success. It cost $65, we won $80, got our names announced a lot, had lots of people cheer for us and Pink Rhino. Yeah, not bad. We'll be back next year.
2012.36: 7/30 - 8/5
Sunday: After a night of 13 hours of sleep, I woke up, took a nap, then went out for a short ride. I started out kinda strongish, but then the heat got to me. Stopping at west meadow, I ended up seeing cheese Dave and his girlfriend, so I hung out with them for a little. I tried a little more riding, then headed back into the wind. I felt completely hollowed out by the time I got home. Also, my stupid powertap wasn't reading for the first half of the ride. Who knows what that's all about.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207180311
NP/IF/TSS: not worth it
Saturday: Came back from PA, went to my cousin's bridal shower. No riding. This has been a pretty slow week.
Friday: Tandemonium! at t-town. See race report.
Thursday: Headed to PA for das awkschtfeschtstst and tandemonium. No riding this particular day.
Wednesday: Planned on racing at Kissena, but it was cancelled due to a rainy forecast. No other riding that I can think of.
Tuesday: I was originally thinking about going to t-town to race tuesday with Andy. I backed out, opting for Kissena instead in order to save some cash and skip the second drive to PA in one week.
Monday: Got up early to ride with Art for his 3rd anniversary of leading an SBRA ride. It was the usual Cedar Beach ride. Ben showed up, and of course despite the both of us wanting an easy ride today, it ended up as a hammerfest between the two of us. Another attendance of note wasMr. Cone Chauncy, a teacher at my old high school. There was also fast Eddy and Dan. Anybody else? Possibly. This is what happens when I write my full weekly synopsis at the end of the week. After the cedar beach ride, a handful of us rode over near Doug's house to steal the KOM on his street. Along the way a guy opened the side door of the mini van he was travelling in and shouted out "YEAH PINK RHINO!" Yeah indeed!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204780526
NP/IF/TSS: 200W/0.868/244
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207180311
NP/IF/TSS: not worth it
Saturday: Came back from PA, went to my cousin's bridal shower. No riding. This has been a pretty slow week.
Friday: Tandemonium! at t-town. See race report.
Thursday: Headed to PA for das awkschtfeschtstst and tandemonium. No riding this particular day.
Wednesday: Planned on racing at Kissena, but it was cancelled due to a rainy forecast. No other riding that I can think of.
Tuesday: I was originally thinking about going to t-town to race tuesday with Andy. I backed out, opting for Kissena instead in order to save some cash and skip the second drive to PA in one week.
Monday: Got up early to ride with Art for his 3rd anniversary of leading an SBRA ride. It was the usual Cedar Beach ride. Ben showed up, and of course despite the both of us wanting an easy ride today, it ended up as a hammerfest between the two of us. Another attendance of note was
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204780526
NP/IF/TSS: 200W/0.868/244
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