my weekly race log

http://www.bikereg.com/events/Default.asp?et=1&rg=MN&ns=&ne=15&btnGo.x=9&btnGo.y=19

http://mcf.net/calendar/

there's a handful of RRs, but it's like all crits all summer

Twenty years ago this exact weekend, aged 15, I did my first ever time trial, 10 miles in 29.00 on a 'dragstrip' course (i.e. on a flat, straight dual carriageway with cars and juggernauts thundering past at 70mph or more and nightmarish dangerous sliproads joining from the left). A week later I did another, this time on a 'sporting' course (i.e. on relatively minor twisting and undulating roads without much traffic) and got a 29.49. I know this because fortunateley I kept a race diary. By the end of the 1989 season I'd got my PB down to 28.00 and by the end of the 1990 season it was 27.15. Then I gave up for half my life.

Today was the first time trial of my belated comeback, by freakish coincidence on the same sporting course where I did my second ever time trial, and I managed a 29.00, by another freakish coincidence the exact same time I got 20 years ago on the dragstrip. I'm pretty pleased with that (although, obviously, I was at the wrong end of the results board - I think I managed to beat five people out of about forty-five). There was a headwind for the first 5.5 miles and I thought I was going to fail to get under 30 mins (which was my target), but then I was able to hammer it on the return. My target for the season is to try to get back up to the standard of my old PB, but that will be tricky as I'm going to restrict myself to sporting courses (as I think it's a bit mental to ride on roads which are virtually motorways).

One crucial difference between 1989 and 2009: every other competitor had tri-bars (apart from me) and most of them had low-profile bikes with disc wheels and aero helmets and stuff. I just had my normal road bike. Maybe I should get some tri-bars? I've never ridden with any, so I don't know what it's like. I certainly won't be bothering with the other stuff (partly because I'm much more interested in road racing than time trailing, but mostly because I don't have thousands of pounds to fritter away on such things). I was also the only rider without shaved legs, but that's a whole other issue.

Oh, and I had the humiliating experience of being caught and instantly passed and quickly left behind by my minute-man after just 1.5 miles (he eventually finished third in just under 23 mins).

CUTTY

HEY CUTTY

hey!

so my team won the cat 3 race. teammate kyl3 p3pp0 got 1st and I was right behind him in 5th. the race was brutal, kind of like a paris-roubaix. no cobbles, but a significant portion of the race was packed dirt, gravel, rocks, raging downhills and general craziness. our 3rd teammate in the field crashed pretty bad and ended up with a concussion (helmet cracked) in the hospital.

here's the course profile:

http://i44.tinypic.com/2dlqf11.png

i really started drilling it at the halfway point, 40 miles in, with a rider i know to be strong and capable of working pretty hard. we totally broke the field apart and the chase was on for us. i almost went off the road on a dirt descent at one point and totally fell off my bike at another. didn't lose any momentum and chased back on. i was feeling 100%.

around the 50 mile point i looked behind me and my teammate had caught up to us, leaving 7 of us in the lead group. we stayed away for the rest of the race. my teammate is definitely the better sprinter and i decided i would not contest the sprint to ensure we would win--i offered up the lead out to him. but the finish was confusing (we should have checked it out before hand) and it came sooner than we expected. 3 guys surged and my teammate came up on the left and passed them all at the line.

it was totally fucking PRO, my fist in the air in 5th place while my teammate wins. no other team had 2 guys in the break, we were the favorites, totally marked, and we still won the race.

we had stayed upstate the night before at another teammate's place. i texted him yesterday morning "wake up we have a race to win" and then we did exactly that.

it's moments like these where all the training is worth it. my team is awesome and we've already won 3 races in 2009. very psyched for this season. i'll post vanity pics if i get any!

also with yesterday's 5th place i am five upgrade points away from my cat 2 upgrade

excellent

awesome!!!

that's great. I was kind of excited just reading that

nice!

wait, what's the deal with cat3 "green" and "blue"?

they split the cat 3 and 4 fields into two separate fields because the race was so in demand. it's probably better though, because a 200 person field would have been a total clusterfuck.

that's great. I was kind of excited just reading that

OTM. Sounds amazing!

my team's website is live, check it!

http://www.jonathanadlerracing.com

here's someone else's race report from the same race:

http://blue-mondays.blogspot.com/2009/04/little-more-battenkill.html

This is a series of three dirt rollers. Taken individually, none of these would be much of a challenge, but the combination of the three of them proved tough to handle. Matt Cutler, of Adler, came to he front and put the hammer down. I jumped on his wheel with a few others following along. I pulled through a few times, but Cutler definitely did most of the work, dropping nearly everybody left in the field.

braggin!

hey, i didn't write it!

Cutty, your team website is pretty great! Also, tell me more about this Laurel girl.

she dates another teammate, you letch! ;)

Haha! Do you all take it in turns to ride behind her in a chain gang? (Yes I am being horribly sexist but I bet you do)

what are you implying sir?

http://bicycling.com/blogs/alloverthemap/2009/04/20/in-the-eye-of-the-battenkill/

Cutty what are the photos (that aren't showing up)on ur team's site's blog of? It doesn't sound good.

there arent any real photos of the crash as far as i know. my teammate was involved in the crash in the video on the bicycling.com blog above.

"Climbing halfway across Meeting House Cuttler and I lead the charge, the field shatters behind"

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_t51SYgxZ3Xw/Se_l0mTF9DI/AAAAAAAACNU/qOB2HUuL1qE/s1600-h/IMG_0291.JPG

this weekend, the tour de ephrata:

http://allthatisgoodmaps.googlepages.com/gmTdEphrata.html

racing the p/1/2/3

:/

So how did it go? Did you shatter any fields?

i did not shatter anything. got dropped from the road race.

it was pretty much the best of the best elite teams in the northeast in the p/1/2/3 race. great experience. i've got the fitness but not the tactics to hang in these races yet. i'll just keep racing them.

best result of the weekend was getting 10th in the TTT (out of 20 teams).

Another ten-mile time trial yesterday, on the same course as a fortnight ago. Smashed my previous time and got 28.17, finishing 61st out of 80, which is progress.

awesome!

Another time trial, this time (rather oddly) 10.2 miles. The extra 0.2 miles is just so that the timekeepers can be based in a layby instead of on a tiny grass verge at the side of the road. This means the course isn't really going to attract people who are only interested in getting the perfect '10' (or '25' or '50' or whatever) - the course is too long and it's another 'sporting' (i.e. not flat and fast) one.

I managed 28.32, with an average speed that equates to 27.58 for 10 miles. I'm pretty pleased with that: I'm getting faster every time I race. Great weather today - warm and sunny - but there was a tailwind on the way out which turned into a vicious headwind on the return. Somehow I didn't realise this until the turn, despite the fact that I did the first half at 24mph, which is hugely better than I've ever managed over the full distance.

in action
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3397/3559798425_157def37d3.jpg

gs bagnpump!

I live in fear of punctures. It'd be a long walk back to the HQ in cleats.

are your legs shaved! kudos!

i did the rapha gentlemen's race today. 120 miles. one of the most "epic" (lol) rides i've ever done. there should be a big expose up on the rapha site with photos and video soon, i'll post.

are your legs shaved! kudos!

No, it just looks that way in the photo because it was so sunny (so no kudos). Did my second Tuesday evening time trial on the Hog Hill circuit tonight: a slight improvement (I got 28.40 this week and 28.53 last week, both weeks I came bang in the middle of the field, 14th out of about 30). I seem to be better at climbing than most, but can't grind it out on the flat like some people do.

you should work on your aero position

get some clip on aero bars

I would do, but I've got the wrong type of handlebars: they're not round, they're kind of flattened.

Actually, maybe I could?
I've got these bars: http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/news/article/mps/uan/2291
They're actually round for about an inch either side of where the stem clamps onto the middle of the bars - is that enough space to mount clip-ons onto? I've got the computer mounted there at the moment, but I could probably move that somewhere else (not sure where).

Maybe I could use these?
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Profile_T2_Plus_Clip_On_Aero_Bar_Extension/5360020749/
They're two individual extensions (instead of a one-piece job), so presumably they could be fitted really close to the clamp.

yup

spectated at the st paul crit last night, will spectate again at the uptown crit (block from my house!) tomorrow

first bike race i have actually watched, v v fast, but i didn't know who was who or really what the hell was going on. the only local contender blew it and went down HARD in the final turn, with like 50 yards of sprinting to go

showed up shortly after the women's race, fitness chix evvvvvvvvvvvverywhere

Did that 10.2-mile time trial again on Saturday and took 20 seconds off my previous time. Average speed now up to 21.7mph.

Very happy. Did that 10.2 mile time trial again (it's a monthly series) and knocked nearly a minute off my time doing my fastest race ever: 27.19 at 22.4mph (which gives an actual 10-mile time of 26.47, nearly 30 seconds faster than my PB from way back in 1990). Those aero bars have definitely made a difference.

I'm racing again tomorrow morning, doing my first 25-mile time trial since 1991.