Another Couple of Weeks

It's the end of May already, damn where did the month go?

Quick recap, lot's of racing, not very noteworthy though but worth a recap.

Smoketown Crit - my teammate Kyle and I got shut out of Wilmington so we headed to Lancaster to race around an airport tarmac. actually not as bad as it sounds. helped drive a early split in the field then had to take a lap for a mechanical but not before being sucked up and spit out the back of the second group so I had to restart with them. Kyle made the split so I didn't try to bring it back, a few attempts to bridge across with some other riders never worked out.

Bike Jam - A.K.A "the ghetto race". don't know why I keep going back. course sucks, the racing sucks and this year I met the biggest douchebag on two wheels. dude rolls into me and another rider trying to get through the fence to stage, he insists on riding and can't get clipped in. rolls up next to me at the first staging point and proceeds to fall all over himself again trying to get clipped in as we roll up to the start line. I ask him if could try no taking me down before the race. douchebag wants to meet in the parking lot afterwards, I ask him if it's so I can teach how to clip into his pedals. third time's a charm. as the whistle blows he can't clip in again, then out of no where he comes jamming up the road not paying attention to the right turn into the round about and almost takes out the two riders infront of me. rest of race spent wondering why guys spread out across the course but don't move up. sit about 20th the entire race wondering why I'm even out there then sit up for the sprint since the race was over before I even make it out of the chicane.

Dan Spencer RR in Bloomsburg - HEF2, Kyle and myself make a last minute decision to travel almost 3hrs to Bloomsburg, PA after Murad is postponed. Race profile has one significant hill which we preview in the car when we get there, doesn't look that bad. don't see the ball buster on the backside of the course. HEF2 a.k.a the Cannibal, kills me with his get there an hour before the race. to make things worse, we're getting seriously pissed on by the only storm cloud for 300 miles. soaking wet and getting cold the race starts, Kyle gets bored rides 50m off the front for 10min or so, gets reabsorbed. Make our way to the backside, some guy goes off and gets a 20sec gap. After ball buster climb I work with 3 other guys to help close the gap. get to the big hill and realize I'm really not that warmed up, rear wheel slipping on the wet road then I make a stupid Cat 5 mistake and let a small gap open up figuring I'll close it going over the top. legs start feeling even worse, gap gets bigger, realize I'm popped. TT the next half a lap before Kyle bridges up to me with another dropped rider. we drill it for the rest of the lap with Kyle and I doing the bulk of the work. up the big hill, lose Kyle and the dead weight, TT for another almost half lap before Kyle bridges up again, this time solo. he asks if I was trying to keep him from bridging and I tell him yes if he was planning on bringing the dead weight with him again. we drill the rest of the lap together and he punks me on the line, hopefully the other guy finished so I wasn't DFL.

Legs are getting better. Had the opportunity to put in some longer road rides and the fitness is defintely coming up. Crits are ok, but they don't do shit for your road racing form. Made a second trip in a week out to Frederick today with HEF. Today was much better than last week and yesterday's ride was much harder than the ride I did last week before heading up there. Couple more weeks to hone the form for Tour of Washington County. Need to break out the TT bike though and get that dialed in.

On the home front Maddy is growing so fast, not just physically. She pretty damn smart for a 17 month old and saying and doing things I would have never expected. She really taken to climbing. She can climb up into her high chair so we have to leave the tray on so she can't when we're not watching her. She also know how to stack things to make it easier to climb up onto something, the does this with the couch. She uses the Ottoman to get onto the couch. The other day she pulled a painting down on top of herself while on the couch then Tuesday at daycare she apparently fell off the couch and put a nice shiner on her forehead. We need to get this girl a helmet.

I just had a sudden craving for spaghetti and meatballs, is that becasue I'm watching the Giro d'Italia?

Are You Feeling It, Evil?

Daddy's don't let your daughter's grow up to be stunt girls. This isn't even the half of it.

7lbs

Last week started out ok, Maddy was still feeling the effects of her little stomach bug from Saturday night and wasn't quite feeling 100% and not eating a lot. By Monday she was still not eating but seemed normal but I ended up taking her to the Dr. anyways since she needed a check up for her ears. Dr said she was fine and to just give her juice instead of milk as the milk could still be irritating her stomach. Tuesday morning the alarm goes off and as I'm laying in bed I realize I don't feel right, couldn't quite place my finger on it but just knew. A few minutes later I decide I'd better cancel my 9am meeting in Arlington, good thing I did or the fireworks would have gone off while I was sitting on the beltway. Let's just say the rest of my day was spent between the bed and the bathroom. 9 hours and 7lbs later it was over, my body had purged whatever intestinal intruder Maddy had passed me.

I spent the better part of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday recovering. It's not easy replacing 7lbs of fluids, and having no appetite I was really dragging ass from not eating anything since Monday. By Wednesday I was able to each a decent lunch, of all the things I could have had an appetite for, it was sushi so I went and busted up the buffet at Nikko. Thursday I hit Frisco when my buddy Jeff for lunch and was able to put down a few chicken tacos. Two meals in 3 days. All week I was wondering if I would be able to race on Saturday. I really didn't want to go to get shelled in the first couple of laps.

By Saturday morning I was able to eat some pancakes for breakfast but was still feeling very lethargic from not eating most of the week and still dehydrated regardless of how much water and Gatorade I drank. In the morning we went to Frederick for a dedication ceremony at the National Guard Armory where my grandfather served. They were re-dedicating a garden in honor of a former General and as a memorial to those who had served in the 29th/115th. After that we made our way up to Ft. Ritchie for the race.

No boring details, just another day of racing, at least this wasn't a boring course. Warming up the legs felt like rubber bands and as we lined up, I was already spitting cotton balls I was so thirsty. Race went off fast with multiple attacks from my teammates. I was following HEF for a bit figuring he would get something started but it was Stephen who slipped off the front with 3 others. A few laps later I was about 5th wheel with HEF on the front going though the last turn and avoided a pile up when HEF got T-boned by someone not following their line. HEF's bike was trashed so he was out, that left Kyle, Lance and myself to cover the field for the next 25 laps or so. The team rode hard, countered moves, prevented any real chase from forming and Stephen stayed away but unfortunately didn't get the win. Last lap I was sitting on the wheel of Coppi's Jason Hall since he's usually a pretty good sprinter but following him into the last turn he over cooks it and goes down, sliding right in my line. I have to swing wide but then see Steve Fife slam into and endo over Jason forcing me to keep riding right off the course into the grass. To sum it up as Steve put it, "I raced around for an hour to be crashed out in the last 5 seconds". At least this week I didn't go down or ruin a tubular trying to avoid going down.

A few pics from the race

9'44"

Yesterday was the Turkey Hill road race up in Lancaster, one of the better road races in the area. I raced THRR last year for the first time and really liked the course, hilly but not too hilly. Selective enough a break can stay away but not until the later laps. That was the plan this year, hold tight until the first trip up the Gamber Wall then look for a move at the top. That plan lasted all of 9 minutes and 44 seconds according to my new Cateye Strada computer. That was the moment I hit the deck for the first time in a road race, crit or circuit race. Sure, I've had plenty of near misses, I've ridden over piles of bikes, over fallen riders, been run off the road etc..., but never taken down. It was along the one section of the course where the yellow line was enforced and there were cones on the yellow line.

In a bike race there a good lines and bad line and good wheels and bad wheels to follow. Sometimes you don't have a choice of either one. A bad wheel is often worse than a bad line. A bad line may simply cause you to loose a few spots or get gaped, a bad wheel can ruin your day. More often then not you don't know you're on a bad wheel until it's too late, there were 100 riders in the race and I don't even know all of the MABRA riders let alone the guys from PA, especially the 4's. All I know is I was following a guy from the Bike Rack, hence forth known as the Bike Wreck. I think my teammate Kyle had warmed of these guys, one of them managed to crash in every race they entered last year or something stupid like that. Anyway, it should be pretty obvious when the jersey of guy who's wheel you're on looks like a piece of swiss cheese a month into the racing season it probably a bad wheel to be following. This guy was having his own personal game of chicken with the orange cones, constantly swinging in and out of his line to avoid them. I was doing everything to not overlap his wheel but as the pace abruptly slowed for a right turn I found myself coming up on his right just as he grabbed a handful of brakes and moved into my line. About to cut my front down, I in turn grabbed some brake, apparently a bit too much as I was expecting my wheels and pads to still be wet requiring just a little extra squeeze to stop on a carbon braking surface. I don't really remember much after that other than the odd sensation that something was terribly wrong.

As I landed chest first onto the pavement with my bike ontop of me still clipped in, I realized I had just endo'ed. WTF? Apparently a little too much brake was applied and I was on my head. I quickly got up, grabbed my water bottles and tried to replace my chain as the pack was still rolling by I knew I could catch back on. Somehow my chain came off and slipped back behind the chainrings and wedged itself between the small ring and the stay. After realizing I wasn't going to fix this as I couldn't even comprehend how my chain could even get like that, I walked to the side of the road and looked at my computer, 9'44". Fantastic. $30 and an hour and a half drive for less than 10min of racing.

After the 1/2/3 field came through I grabbed a ride back to the S/F. I jumped out and walked over to the tent, to my surprise they asked me if I wanted to get back in the race. Hmm, well seeing it's not usually allowed in a road race, sure. By that time I had taken stock of the injuries, a busted left elbow, a busted right knee, 6 holes in my right quad from the chainring, a couple of contusions on the left quad and a very sore chest. As I made my way back into the race, I realized how bad everything hurt since I went from sitting around to full on chase through the first turn and up the first rise to stay in contact. It was also hard to breath as my chest was even more sore than I had realized.
Rest of the race I pretty much just sat in and tried to stay near the front to avoid the accordian effect out of every turn. Last two laps we hit the Wall. It doesn't look like much going into it, but it hurts like hell when you're on it. It's only about 75m long but at probably 18% grade it stings and the short climb before it takes a bit out of you before you get to it. First time over I got stuck behind a Coppi guy who had to dismount and run it, fantastic. A couple of minutes later on the 40+mph winding downhill, I see some guy go down on my right and then his bike goes sliding across the road hitting another rider forcing him down right in front of me. Fortunately he slid off the road but the bike from the first guy was still sliding down the road in my path. Once again I grab some brakes and prepare to find out if I have the skills to ride over a moving bike at 35mph. The result was me "Tokyo Drifting" my rear wheel for about a 100ft and safely making past the bike and in the process ruining a $90 Vittoria Corsa EVO CX tubular tire. My teammate Mark thought I was a goner and was surprised to see me back with the group. Last lap up the wall my legs seized up and I left a gap open. I tried to close it on the fast decent before the turn back on to the main part of the course but just could catch the end of the pack. I couldn't really connect the finish anyway so I rode in with another which was probably a good thing since it looked like there was a really bad wreck in the last 500m, some Coppi guy was laying in the grass, I think he went to the hospital.
The aftermath, elbow looks similar, just smaller and without the teeth marks. Weird thing is this doesn't even hurt, well , except for when I knock into something.

Serendipity

What a day. What was suppose to be an hour appointment in Baltimore turns into a 6hr trip from hell.

Baltimore, or Bawlmur as it's more closely pronounced by the natives, is now full of the newer Pay to Park meter systems. Rather than feed a meter, you buy a ticket with a time stamp from a kiosk and place it on your dash. This undoubtedly ensures no one taking your parking spot, and any remaining time on it, can short the city a few cents. Majority of street parking expires at 4pm on weekdays, with the exception that is of several poorly marked sections maybe 25ft in length at random street corners. These are dubiuosly marked as no parking 3-6pm, if you actually see them. Here's the photo I'll be bringing to court.
As we came up Paca St for the second time looking for a spot we had decided to just park in the garage there on the right (first entrance after the second Pay to Park sign). But there just happened to be a space right infront the entrance by that second Pay to Park sign. Needless to say we never see the first sign with the No Stopping 3-6pm only posted at the corner behind several other signs. No where else except on the oppostite side of the street on the same corner is that No Stopping sign posted above a Payto Park sign. As usual, 1:20 appointment runs late so finally realizing my time should be expiring, I go out with Maddy to re-up the meter. Hmm, no car. Many expletives followed by a call to tell Gina, a few more expletives in convincing her it's not a joke, the car is gone. I call information to get the city impound lot, the girl there says she doesn't have the car and for whatever reason cannot call any of the tow truck drivers to see if it's being brought in.

I was so livid over the poor street markings and disorganizaion of the parking enforcement I called and reported it stolen. The police show up 15min later (2 officers for a non-emergency call, hmm, and this city has a budget crisis and one of the highest crime rates i nthe country?) . 45min later the impound lot finally confirms it's there so we walk over to UMD hospital so I can catch a cab. Now I have to leave Gina and Maddy sitting there in the atrium while I cab it across the city to the impound lot, during rush hour. $262 and a $10 cab ride later ($2.50 of which was just getting out of the hospital) I have the car.

While I'm there I see this guy sitting with three little kids, two boys and a girl all under the age of 4, looking pretty dejected. All I could think of was Maddy, then I got worried for the kids so when I go out to get the car I stop and ask him if he wass ok. He tells me how they got towed while at John's Hopkins hospital during his son's Dr.'s appointment. Worse part is they are from PA, two hours away. Feeling even worse for these kids I give him $40 and tell him to at least get his kids some food if they have to wait around for a ride home and at least take a cab to a better part of town if it gets dark. As I'm ready to leave, his girlfriend comes out of the office crying saying she has no idea how they were going to afford $262 to get their car out since it's an entire week's paycheck for him and they don't get paid until Friday. I wasn't sure what to do but I had to get back to maddy and Gina so I wished them good luck, got the car and left.

As we were leaving B'more I was telling Gina this story and she got a bit upset so we decided to drive back across town to the impound lot. It just kind of sucked to think of those kids and the sacrifices they would have to make to go without a week's pay for one of their parents. When we got there they were gone but the girl in the office said they had walked down to City Hall to try and get someone to help them revoke the fine. A few minutes later they were back since City Hall was closed and still with no idea how to pay for the ticket. The guy was so surpised and happy to see me, and started telling us how he had just started going to church and turning his life around for the sake of his kids. Just as we were ready to pay his fine so they could get home his girlfriend finally got a hold of a family member half willing to pay their fine but she wasn't sure the impound lot would take the credit card over the phone so we stayed with them for next hour until it was all sorted out and they were on their way back to PA.

We finally got home around 7, 6hrs after getting into the city for a 1hr Dr.'s appointment. The guy called me around 10:30 to let me know they all got home and the kids were in bed. All I can say is, when you think things are bad, just remember they could be worse.

Disturbing

It used to be I didn't care about some of the really f'ed up shit that happens in this world, I was accepting of the fact that there are crazy people willing to do crazy things for who knows what reasons and there was not much I could do about it anyway.

I don't know if it's the fact that Maddy has come into our lives or that this just hits too close to home but is really pisses me off. I grew up in Middletown, went to middle and high schools there and stuff like this just didn't happen nor would anyone ever think it could. She graduated the year after me, I didn't know her, just of her but enough to know she was well liked and never did anything to deserve something like this, no one does for that matter. On top of that, who can justify killing innocent kids? Regardless of how f'ed up your life or marriage is, there's just no reason for it.

What is really getting to me more than the act itself is the media surrounding it. I'm ok with free speech and even freedom of the press, but at some point someone has to make a consciencious decission about the amount of detail the public really needs to know about what "really" happened, such as the details of the actual deeds. What's the point in it? A horrible act was committed and we should grieve with the families of the victims in knowing that something terrible and tragic has happened but to feel the need to put this amount of detail out is unecessary and almost as disturbing as the act itself.

Element 6

So, I can't really say where the past month and a half has gone, that sucks. All I know is I turned 34 last month and life didn't come to an end, got six more years for that. I do know that I can now race Master's in 'cross this season. Finally got the team bike built up, it's a bit on the heavy side but it's just a crit bike. I have to say though, after putting in 8hrs in a weekend, I remember why I switched to carbon almost 10 years ago. I promptly rebuilt the Madone with a SRAM Red group, I think that group could lighten up a Wal-Mart Huffy.
Maddy has been keeping us plenty busy. Between exploring and learning all kinds of new words it's hard to keep up with how fast she's growing and learning. She did give us a new experience a few weeks ago. One Friday night we all ventured out for Pho. As usual, Maddy scarfs down an insane amount of food, she can regularly out eat Gina. About a half hour into dinner she's doing her usual boredom thing and throwing herself over the side of the high chair. All of a sudden she spits up some food. We take her out of the chair to get her cleaned up and no sooner is she sitting in my lap and the rest of her dinner comes up on me, nice. Besides that she's doing a great job of keeping us sick, just got back from the pediatrician, another ear infection.

My sinuses have been on and off all winter, I was doing fine until last weekend when I decided last minute to hike up to Lancaster and do Mt. Joy. This would be my second 1/2/3 road race, after a dismal effort at Jeff Cup and having to bail on Walkersville becasue I was sick if figured I needed a long hard workout. I knew it was doomed from the start because the rain that was suppose to have passed through by morning was still pounding us here and all the way up 83. I knew the course and felt it wasn't hard enough that I shouldn't be able to at least finish this race and get a good workout in. By the start the rain was letting up but then the wind had really picked up. I blindly ignored the 25-30mph gust description on the weather report hoping for the best but this would ultimately be the deciding factor. Around the start of lap 3 we made the first right turn after the start finish which consisted of small stair step climb. It also happened to be the place where the wind was the worst, a 30+mph head/crosswind that simply ripped the pack into shreds. The group was strung out on the opposite side of the road, gaps opening and everyone fighting for a wheel. For some reason fear of the ref actually enforcing the yellow line rule made me get out of line and over to the right where I had to burn a few matches to stay in contact with the main group before cresting the top of the climb. I managed to last a few more laps before my inattentiveness cost me and I found myself chasing desperately on the long fast decent after the main climb as some huge guy I was using for a wind break opened up a significant gap. The field was strung out single file so I knew they were rolling so I put my head down and drilled it. I made contact just before a small rise before the 1k to go mark but I was out of matches and the pack accelerated just as I latched on. Dangling about 500m off the back I tried to get on Tom Soloday's wheel who had flatted and was chasing back on but to no avail. I rode another lap in earnest then called it a day as I was starting to notice how cold and wet I was.

Fast forward a few weeks. Still sick and not really training, just riding my bike from time to time. I skipped the Syn-Fit crit, just wasn't in the mood to drive an hour and a half for a pancake flat crit in some industrial park by Dulles airport. Anyway, Gina cashed in some chips and went shopping with some friends while Maddy and I spent the morning together. Before hitting yoga we had a snack at Bean Hollow.

Yesterday was Carl Dolan, I like this race, especially since it's close to my house. The team was figuring out what the plan, a couple of guys were up for not letting it come down to a sprint finish but I couldn't remember ever seen a race won the in a break. The course is fairly wide open and difficult to get out of site. First race was the 3/4 in the morning so I got up early, rode Cafe Bagel for some breakfast and headed off to the race. The guy at Cafe Bagel asked if I was carrying extra wheels on my backpack in case I flatted, I thought that was funny. I told him no, they were my race wheels.

I didn't realize it, but the last time we really raced together was back in February at one of the last Tradezone races. Kyle decided to save his legs for the 1/2/3 race later so it was just Stephen, HEFs 1 and 2, Lance and myself. The 3/4 race started off pretty fast, we kept attacking off the front in hopes of getting something going but nothing ever stuck. So plan B was to just make the pace hard enough to make the so called "Sprinter" teams work more than they want to. This is pretty easy for us since everyone is willing to go ride hard and leave everything on the course. I can't say I see that from other teams out there, everyone is out for themselves I guess.

Me on lap 3 heading into the climb

Stephen trying an early flyer and taking a preme

Hef2 on one of his several attempts to go off the front and get something started

Hef1Lance looking pretty and smiling for the camera (yes, it was the donuts causing your rear tire to feel flat)

Fast forward to the last few laps, a few last ditch efforts to get off the front by some guys who sat in all race but nothing is sticking. I lost contact with Hef2 and Stephen but figured they were near the front. I was sitting about fifth wheel with two NCVC, a Bike Dr. and a R1V guy. My job was to disrupt and organization at the front and keep the pace high going into the couple hundred meters. As we make the last turn towards the finsh, the Bike Dr and R1V guy sit up and look around allowing the two NCVC guys get a gap down the hill as the pace temporarily slowed. I swing around and drill it knowing I'll get swarmed if I don't go now. I catch the two NCVC guys at the base of the climb and go right around them. At that point all I can do it keep drilling it so I stand with about 400m to go and give it whatever was left in the tank. I see Stephen coming over my left side so I figure my day was done so I just sat up and watched as Stephen destroyed the field for the second day in a row.

Stephen sealing the deal two days in a row

After a shower, some food and a little rest I decided to jump in the 1/2/3 race later in the day. The beautiful sunny weather we had in the morning turned to grey, overcast skies with the threat of rain and much cooler temps. I was just using this race for training and everyone we had in it had already raced once so no real expectation for the team either. A small break got off the front on the first couple of laps, I didn't know who was represented so I made a jump to a chase group in the hopes of bridging up to it. As the chase wittled down to three of us, with an LSV and an IM rider I later realized why we never closed the several second gap, they had teammates in the break. Oh well, back to being pack fodder. 8 more laps and I realize my legs are starting to cramp so rather than make things worse and risk have to take an extra day or two of rest from the dehydration I just decided to cut bait with about 4 to go and spectate. Like I said, I've never seen this race won in a break, that is until yesterday. The 4 man break consisted of two LSV (one of which was Rick Norton), Mark Warno (IM) and Josh Frick (DC Velo). With two to go Warno was dropped at the base of the climb leaving Frick in a two on one situation. In cycling this is not good. In an impressive effort, Frick won in what ended up being a two up sprint after Rick must have given his all to attack and force Frick to counter. Nice job.

Losing Focus

My goal for the season was racing either Nationals or Fitchburg in early July but now neither seems like it's going to happen, unless I want to be in some real hot water. That's pretty much left me without a training objective for the season, it's probably a good thing since I lost some fitness being down with a sinus infection but the past two weeks weren't very productive since Tradezone started up and I haven't been putting in the long rides on the weekend. Traedzone is fun, but not where my time should be spent right now, especially since I'm stuck trying to rework my schedule and find a new objective a bit later in the season to focus on.

My plan for today was to head out to Frederick for some hills but after realizing Jeff Cup and Walkersville, both 1/2/3 races, are right around the corner I decided on the Davidsonville ride this morning looking to get a hard, fast 3hrs in the legs. A lot of the hammers weren't there but the pace was still good and the ride hard, especially since I found myself on the front a lot. It also made me realize how jacked up my back is from my little fall last week. The last hour was horrible, it was difficult to pedal. This really sucks becasue I spent the last two years working out back issues and now here we go again. I just hope this is something that goesaway quickly.

With the need for more miles and a forecast of bad weather again tomorrow I'm going to skip TZ because the chance of doing both the A and the B races in wet weather is pretty low and one race just isn't enough.

I've had my fun, now it's time to refocus and not get caught up in this early season racing.

Peace Offering?

No, it's not what you think.

If you race in the Mid-Atlantic, you're probably familiar with racing in both Maryland, Northern Virginia and lower/central Pennsylvania (Lancaster/Philly area). If you've ever looked closely, you notice a major difference in the promotion of races in MD/NoVA versus central PA. In MABRAland races are put on by the clubs in the region not only for the sake of the sport, but to fulfill an obligation as a registered USCF cycling team, there is also the added fundraising component to putting on an event. Most teams do not actually make money on events, at least not a lot. Sometime we even lose money but it doesn't matter, that's not what's important. A lot of clubs in this area are dedicated to putting on great events like Poolesville, Giro di Coppi and our own Walkersville RR to name a few. Road race are expensive ventures, besides the basics like refs you also pay for a place to stage it, typically a school and police and EMT support. If you're lucky, they promoting club will have some form of wheel support, typically a volunteer driving his or her own car behing each race and then being reimbursed for gas. Let tell you, don't let your event run late because police overtime gets expensive.

In central PA however, the races are typically run by race promoters and not so much by clubs and is run as a business with intent to make money. The course a rather sub-par comparably and neutral wheel support, forget about it. I feel like I'm being treated as a comodity when I go there to race. If you've followed the race scene in PA long enough you've come to know two promoters, Rich Ruoff and David Butterworth of Red Rose Racing and Pro Am Cycling respectively. Over the years races have traded hands and sometimes a working business relationship but last year that finally came to a tumultuous end resulting in more than half of the usual race being canceled. In the end each had their own reasoning for the demise but as far as I can tell, the racing community has directed their angst at David, calling for a boycott of the races he did resurrect late in the season. All I can say to that is he scheduled a race the same day a Rich and his was canceled due to lack of registration. Well, I can tell you why I didn't register for any of his races, he didn't post a confirmed rider list, period. Why am I going to shell out $40 and not even know if there's anyone to race against then have to scramble to get to another race and hope I can get in?

So for 2009 both Rich and David are back promoting races (independently I should add) and looking to take advantage of me some more. My problem with both of these guys is they've raised their entry fees but I see no real "upgrade" to what they're giving me for my money, especially compared to a MABRA event. At least Rich isn't following suite and dropping his 3/4 and 35+ fields.

I guess in an effort to regain some support, David has sent out coupons to prior Pro-Am Cycling event participants labeled as "Travel Vouchers" offering you $10 off of your entry fee, good for the entire season. Well, considering he increased his entry fees I don't really see how he's helping me get to like him again.

A Day in Belgium

This week was kind of shitty, the weather I mean. It was either raining or very windy which was fine because I had a relatively busy week with work forcing most of my workouts inside on the rollers. Expecting to have a good week on the bike, it started out really bad. Now that racing has semi-officially started with Tradezone, I'm thinking it's time to step it up a bit. My Wednesday workout was horrible, I felt like crap and barely finished it. A day's rest gave me the energy and the motivation to hit the same workout again with much better results. Of course the weather clears for a beautiful sunny day yesterday but I was planning another hard interval workout on the rollers before finishing it off with Tradezone today, hopefully.

Last night Gina and I went out to dinner at the Rumor Mill in downtown E.C. This was the second time we've eaten there and it's pretty good food that's reasonably priced. It helps that Gina picked up these gift certificates that basically give you a half price meal, and they include alcohol in that, very rare for a restaurant. They have tapas style menu consisting of American-Asian fusion. We decided to start out with a bottle of wine to make sure we made the required $ amount. I honestly can't remember the last time we went to dinner and split a whole bottle between just the two of us. Let's just say I was planning on not racing Tradezone today.

I woke up this morning with my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth from dehydration and expecting the ground to be covered with thin layer of snow with freezing rain coming down, but to my surprise it was clear out. Guess I was racing today. By the time I left the house it was sunny and relatively warm, after checking the weather report it looked like we may have a shot at a clear race. 20min later I'm halfway there and it's raining, go figure. Race flyer says canceled if rain, snow or sleet. Call a teammate who should already be at the race, he tells me he's heading home not wanting to race in the rain with a cold. Call HEF who calls the race hotline, no luck. Get to the race and it's a good 15-20 degrees colder than when I left the house.

I went ahead and signed up for both the A and B races. My warm up basically consisted of sitting in either the car or the port-o-john and I wasn't feeling great after two hard training days and a half bottle of wine. Today we had some serious numbers and a strong squad. On the start line HEF says he wants to go from the start, I think ok, let's do it. Of course, for the second week in a row, Amy, Kyle's wife, manage to snap a shot of me on the start line yawning. It's my psych out technique, it's all I got.
As soon as the whistle blew, HEF was off. He got a quick gap on the field and I closed to his wheel hoping to help launch him on the backside after coming out of the wind. He pulled about halfway to the second turn before I came through and pulled the rest of the lap. We never really pulled away from the field bu we certainly split it up early. I can't remember if it was the second or third lap but we had just been caught but were still on the front when our new teammate Stephen launched a counter attack that opened up a huge gap. HEF had the legs to bridge up to him while I was content to stay in the pack and disrupt anything that tried to chase it down. This is where shit went wrong. The first couple of laps I had been leading through turn 2 where there was a poor attempt at cleaning up an oil spill. This is the trickier of the three turns on the course and the oil and rain made it worse. I made the mistake of coasting through the turn and not pedaling. Not pedaling causes you to not apply force to the rear wheel which in turn gives you no traction. In a split second my rear wheel washed out and I was on my ass sliding across the road. Fortunately I didn't take anyone out and was able to roll down to the start/finish and rejoined the race.

As I waited to rejoin, Stephen, HEF and an NCVC guy go by with a nice gap to a 2 man chase which had a gap on the field. After rejoining the race, we quickly grabbed up the two chasers who seemed to have cut bait on the windy backside. A lap or two later we picked up the NCVC guy who couldn't keep up with HEF and Stephen. For the rest of the race Kyle and I pretty much shut down any and every attempt to organize a chase. At some point it started raining, freezing rain. I was wearing wool gloves which just soaked up the cold water. At one point I couldn't tell if my shifter was broken or I just wasn't feeling it in the first place to shift, that was about the time my Harden the F*#& Up meter hit 11.

Me hitting the deck early probably helped HEF and Stephen because no one wanted to go through the turn at speed and they were gaining about 5sec a lap, if the race were a few laps more they would have lapped us. With 4 or 5 to go I tried to get a break going with two NCVC guys but they each took one pull and blew themselves up after a lap, should have known better. Maybe spend more time racing than posing for the camera.
Last lap I just kept the pace as hard as possible on the long stretch before the final turn trying to set up Kyle or HEF1 for the sprint. Unfortunately I blew up just before the turn but had the field strung out enough that the other Kyle (Pittman) was able take the sprint with Kyle (Jones) a spot or two behind him.
Stephen and HEF crossing the line, apparently no coordination resulted in an intra-squad sprint, HEF let him have it. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th for day isn't bad. After the race I was so cold I was shaking uncontrollably. With no dry clothing or gloves to change in to, HEF and I bagged the A race while Stephen lasted two laps before pulling out for lack of feeling in his hands and arms. We opted for some coffee and grub at Atlanta Bread Company. As I'm sitting here my lower back is really sore, I guess that means a massage this week and maybe a trip to Life Fitness to see if Matt can hook me up with some heat and stym.

Thanks to Amy Jones for hanging out in the freezing rain to take photos!

Back in the Saddle

Mid February in the Mid-Atlantic means only one thing, the racing season has descended upon us, or at least those few hardcore enough to think racing in 30 degree temps is actually fun. The past few weeks haven't been great with getting on the bike, between work and illness I haven't logged too many miles and my meat and potatoes workout Friday night was more SPAM than prime rib leaving me a bit nervous about throwing a leg over my bike in anger this weekend.

I decided I would go ahead and give it a go at Tradezone today. I registered for the B race with the intent of also racing the A if my legs felt good. Having not raced much on the road lat year, I'm at a loss as to who is hot and who is not. All I knew is that a while back my teammate Kyle said Route 1 Velo was putting together a formidable Cat3 squad. Well, if that was their squad we went up against today, then I don't think we're going to be too worried although right now we do lack a top notch sprinter. To make a long story short, we dominated the race, Kyle and I patrolled the from the start launching attacks, chasing down breaks or just generally putting a hurt on the field. It's a great thing when you take a hard pull, ook back to see the field strung out then for laughs flick the arm for someone to pull through and no one can. I seem to remember that several times and it was always a couple of Route 1 guys looking at each other.

Close to midway through the race we ended up setting up HEF for a break. No sooner did I ask him if he wanted me to reel in a small break up the road and he said "no, not yet", did Kyle roll up next to me, smile and say "let's go". Kyle shut down the break, I pulled through to keep the pace up and HEF launched an attack that brought two others with him. At that point Kyle, Lance and I just controlled the pace letting them build up a lead. I really thought he had it but the combination of a prime lap ramping up the chase and the rest of the break blowing up around him, about 6 laps later and HEF was left to either attempt to stay away solo for 6 more laps or go back, sit in and rest up for the sprint. He opted for sitting up and waiting. Kyle and Lance both tried solo fliers but nothing stuck so it was down to the sprint. I got filtered back in the pack before the final turn and tried going wide but had to scrub a lot of speed to keep from ending up in the median but still manage to salvage it for a top 10 finish while HEF pulled out 4th after narrowly avoiding being taken out by the 3rd place rider who deciced he needed to sweep from left to right just before the line for no apparent reason. He actually clipped the wheel of the rider in front of me who miraculously managed to not dump it going 35mph. That would not have been a good way to start the season.

Not really feeling like I had raced or really even ridden, I decided to do the A race but unfortunately registration had closed. Maybe next week. Otherwise I fell pretty good about today, it wasn't a taxing race, my recovery between hard efforts was good, just need to start working in the intensity. Today was also a good test of the team, even though it was just a couple of us I think we clicked pretty well for this early in the season and things can only get better.

The Rub

Damn, February already. Well, so much for posting more often. Let's see, so what happened in January? Besides Maddy going from crawling to almost running in the span of a week, she's expanded her vocabulary to include the words stinky, cheese, diaper (always preceded by daddy), doggie (as opposed to deedaw which is now Boulder) and uh oh spaghetti O (seriously yes, she can say that). She's also started throwing a few fits during mealtime. Most of her problem stems around wanting anything Gina or I have to eat and does she let you know.

Unfortunately for me my grandmother passed away earlier in the month. Unlike my grandfather, we were prepared for this and it wasn't as hard to take. I'm also still dealing with this pesky sinus infection. After a round of amoxicilan I ended up back at the doctor only to be prescribed a stronger antibiotic, avelox. The first week on it wasn't bad, but still training and putting in a hard week, I found I just wasn't recovering very well and that culminated with an unplanned week off the bike. To add to it, a followup visit this past week to the doctor resulted in another 7 days on this stuff.

Seeing that it went from being in the high 20's/low 30's for the daily high to in the 50's today, I had to go out and ride. Wasn't quite sure how the legs were going to feel after a week off the bike but they felt pretty good, albeit a sore. I was out with my teammate Mike C and as we were tooling around Sykesville trying to intercept a group ride, we come across a guy walking his black lab on the opposite side of the road. The guy has the dog on a 15ft retractable leash and the dog is using up all 15ft, mind you he's walking along a major road with no shoulder and his dog had 15ft of leash to roam on. Well, as we pass by him the next thing I know his dog, a bit unfriendly for a lab, is acorss the road growling at us pressing both Mike and I almost off the road. All of this and a car was about to pass us from behind. With no regard for his dog's safety let alone ours, the guy makes no attempt to pull his dog out of the road before it either bites one of us or is taken out by a car. Being somewhat infuriated at this I utter something to the effect of "nice job jackass", not really expecting it to be in earshot of the guy but apparently it was. He started yelling something back but it just earned him the 1 finger salute. Moron.

He's probably one of the same idiots that was out driving in the bad weather we had earlier in the week. Obama is right, prople in the DC area a retarded when it comes to dealing with winter weather, ok, maybe he didn't use the word retarded. I had the misfortune of having to drive to Herndon both Tuesday and Wednesday. I dread this drive even in the best of conditions. I lost count of the number of assholes driving slow in the left lane, holding up traffic only to find that they are also yapping away on their cell phones. Look, if you're afraid to go out in this weather then stay at home. If you are afraid to drive in bad weather but must go out, then stay out of the left lane and put your cell phone somewhere you can't reach it. It will make it safer for everyone trying to dodge you braking and swerving all over the road.

Karma or just a bit of what comes around goes around? Gina lost her iPod Shuffle in the locker room of the Y. Obviously someone picked it up and apparently didn't think to ask at the main desk on their way out if there was a lost and found they could leave it at. A day or two later at the grocery store I'm using the self checkout. I always pay with the bank card but happened to look down and the most inconveniently placed cash return and noticed someone had forgotten to take their change, turned out to be $15. For the entire time I checked out I debated the situation I was in, walk the money over to the conveniently located service desk that I would pass by on my way out and turn it in or, keep it as a down payment on a new iPod Shuffle?

Did I tell you Gina got a new Shuffle the other day? She's upset they no longer make it in purple.

Where have you been?

I've noticed recently that this Blog thing is on it's way out, and I'm not just talking about my own lack of posting. Regular Blogs I follow aren't that regular anymore, some are even retired. In this "gotta have it now" world we live in, Blogging is already outdated. It seems that if you're not on Facebook, Twitter or some other near instantaneous form of communication you're not really there at all. I can update my status on FB a couple of times a day in 3 or less sentences, post pics and communicate with friends, so why come here and write some long, drawn out post? Maybe because Blogging provides a bit more sense of permanace than the others, maybe I just feel the need to write something deeper than what I'm doing at that instant.

Anyway, 2008 is in the books. History is such a funny thing, at the beginning of the year, everyone is always so happy the prior year is behind them and is looking forward to the next. I never really understood that becasue a year from now they'll be saying the same thing, so what went wrong? Probably not looking back to see what made the year so bad in the first place and actually resolve to change. I think that's just human nature, we're just doomed to commit the same errors over and over not learning from our mistakes.

For me 2008 was mostly good. Priorities changed so the first step was simply accepting that change and moving on. Maddy had just come into our lives and Gina and I had no clue what we were doing so every day was a learning experience, both in how to be parents and watching her change and develop. On the flip side, the worst thing about 2008 was the loss of my grandfather. I also didn't do much racing, 'cross was a complete bust but it was nice spending weekends at home with the family for once. Conversely, I did however finally straighten out whatever was wrong with my back and leg, nothing a few months in the gym can't fix, just wish I'd tried that sooner. Now I'm back training and feel 100 times better on the bike than I have the past 2 years.

Work is sort of this inert aspect of my life that tends to serve more as a means to an end rather than a means of its own. Sometimes this is good and other times it's bad. I'd like more out of my job but I don't think I would have the quality of life I enjoy now if I did. This year may require a big descision with regards to work and where that will take me in my career but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I'm not one for spending too much time worrying about things in the future that aren't entirely in my control. Guess with the way things are going these days it's enough just to have a secure job.

Anyway, I'm going to resolve to be a bit better at keeping up with the the blog.

Sour Grapes

WTF? I started my three week vacation today and now this is heading our way. So much for some nice long rides, outside. Tomorrow's forecast says rain likely, 90% chance of rain. Well no shit, with a 90% chance and that front coming I'm pretty sure it's more than "likely" it will rain.

I did get out for a 3hr ride today. Felt pretty good for being jammed up with a head cold the past week and a half.

In other news, Maddy is almost 1! I can't believe it's been a year already. Sunday is her birthday so we're having a small party, looks like I need to go out and get some beer. Lately she's been all about cruising and exploring. It's pretty awesome to see her but now we really can't leave her alone for 2 seconds because she'll take off and get into something. Makes me realize all of the things around the house that are NOT child proof, electrical outlets are just the tip of the iceberg.

10001110101

It's sad, but I can't honestly remember the last concert I went to. If I had to guess, it was Jane's Addiction and Live at Nissan Pavilion in 2002? maybe 2001? Figure this was a good way to make up some lost early onset hearing loss.

Waiting for Charon

So Mike and I ventured out for another long training ride today. Unlike previous rides the wind wasn't bad but having not ridden since Monday and logging about 11hours in the car traveling while eating a truck driver's diet for the last 3 days, I was left feeling pretty flat, not to mention Maddy has a cold which means I'm fighting one off. I debated even going but got a solid night's sleep and felt pretty good when the alarm went off.

On tap was a 90mile loop out through Montgomery and western Howard counties. With the legs not feeling as good as hoped for, I managed to shoot my load only about an hour and a half in, and Mike ended up dragging me around for better part of the remainder of the ride. Mike's route had us go down some roads I've never been on before and at one point we were bombing down a hill when the road turns to gravel with some deep potholes at the entrance. After a quick map check we continued down the gravel road until we were met with a 30ft. wide creek about a foot deep. We checked around and finding no way to cross it without getting wet we decided to turn around. Apparently the road is still used as several trucks and SUVs came from both directions, Mike suggested we ask one of them to ferry us across.

By my count we only got a bit over 83 miles in about 4hr 30min, towards the end I was cramping so the 7mi shortage was not missed. After today and the forecast of rain tomorrow, looks like racing the MABRA 'Cross champs tomorrow is out.

Finding the Sweet Spot and Random Nonsense

It's been a while since I've put together a real update so here's a mix of random thoughts and events from the past several weeks. Maybe I've just been too preoccupied watching my 401K take a huge dump.

Time has been passing by pretty quickly, Maddy is growing so fast it's hard to believe it's been almost a year already. She's all about standing and cruising around exploring everything and anything she can get her hands on. Here she is checking out her uncle Paul and aunt Angie last weekend when we visited them in Lancaster.

As for me it's been a low key fall with no 'cross racing. On the upside I seem to have finally kicked the leg and back issues that have plagued me the past two years, keeping my fingers crossed that it holds up as the intensity picks up first of the year. For now it's just a lot of structured training during the week, Sub-TH and Sweet Spot Training and group rides on the weekends for the mental break.

This past Sunday Hef2 and I headed out into some nasty wind for a 4+ hour ride. First 3 hours were a steady diet of headwind or crosswind with 30+ mph gusts that could throw you from your bike if you weren't paying attention. After making it out to Mt. Airy we finally turned east heading home with the wind at our backs, nothing like cruising effortlessly along the flats and rollers at 30+ mph to make you feel PRO. Afterwards I was absolutely crushed, Maddy is wondering what's wrong with me as I fall asleep playing with her.
Tuesday I wasn't feeling fully recovered and should have rested a bit more since I was still tired from Sunday but went ahead and did my prescribed workout anyway. Later that night as I went to bed, I rolled over on my side and realized the room was spinning, like the spins you get after drinking a bit too much. I think it's been from spending a little too much time in the Pain Cave.
Basically I spent yesterday in bed as the spins turned into a steady pounding headache by the afternoon. Seems I'll be taking a bit of an unscheduled rest.

I did make the mistake of joining Facebook, what a life sucking distraction that site is. Other than that, life is pretty sedate, just resting up for the holidays. Having not really taken any time off this year and carrying over vacation from last year, I've banked so much time I have two weeks of use it or lose it so I put in for the 2nd and 3rd weeks of December off knowing everyone else will take the last week and half off pretty much guranteeing me a three plus week vacation. Hopefully the weather will be decent so I can log some long rides.

On a final note, big congrats to Joanna Zeiger for winning the 70.3 World Championships earlier this month in Florida.

Good Bye, Bye...Good Bye, Bye

Yeah, yeah, yeah, good bye.

Pumpkin Picking

We took Maddy to the Elioak Farm today to pick a pumpkin out but first we made our way through the petting zoo. I think the horse was mistaking her foot for a carrot.

Picking out her first pumpkin was so difficult, there were so many to choose from.
But after checking out a few she finally found one just her size.

Clean Slate

Things just haven't been right in the universe for quite some time now, and ignoring this fact I've trudged along not enjoying things the way I used to rather than working on setting things right. When you just don't feel good, nothing makes you happy and the things you used to enjoy just make you more frustrated with this reality. Fortunately there has been a bright spot through all of this in Maddy.

Cycling is one of those things I used to enjoy, but the past two years my body and mind just haven't been on the same path, more like opposite paths that are only getting farther apart. This past weekend was the start of the 'cross season pretty much everywhere across the country. From Oregon to Michigan to Maryland and up to New England, the most devoted 'crossers around broke from their summer shells and made a pilgrimage to the first race of the season. That is, all except me.

I couldn't even stomach the thought of going and just watching. Don't get me wrong, I could have raced, my heart and mind were there but the body is not which the first two can overcome, to a degree. I've decided it's time to try and fix things once and for all or hang up the bikes for good and join the masses hugging my couch for hours on end each weekend watching football or golf.

Fall hasn't come soon enough to cast a long shadow on what will hopefully be history once and for all. Depending on how things progress, I'll hit a few races later in the season when it's cold and miserable outside and ripe for good 'cross conditions. But until then, I've got other plans.