What a difference 18 years makes: CRCA March 11, 2006
About 34 of us lined up although it felt much smaller. Two groups of
NYVelocity riders were introduced on the line. Anthony , Steve F.
Steve B, Aussie Rob and myself. The race started so slow that I
feared we would set some horrible CRCA record for clocking the slowest
C race ever - one record none of us wanted to set. The A riders would
eventually lap us with the breakaway from the C's catching a quick
draft off their pack too.
Anyway, as per Cisco's (our coach) instructions the NYVC riders were always
present in the first 5 or 6 places. At one point one of the Steve's
rolled of the front and got about 100 yards or so and Rob and I were
at the front so we decided to slow down even more and see what would
happen. He dangled off the front for a while but then came back on
his own - I thought a smart move because it was windy and there were 3
laps to go.
Although I have been admonished by Alex (Team founder) many times not to ride in
front, the pace got so slow at times (15 MPH) all of us NYVCers took
many turns at the front initially, just to keep things going, and then
to reel in a gutsy (or foolish) solo break that a guy took on lap 3.
I was very confident that we would catch him but when he got over a
minute I did start to think we better get going.
Anyway, the pace picked up considerably the last 2 laps with some real surges on the hills. The guy was swept up.Coming around the carousel - I was in front which I knew I shouldn't be - but I wasn't planning on contesting the sprint anyway so I lead
out from the Boathouse, more of time trial attempt really- I have no
fast twitch going on even when I am fit so everybody stormed past me
on the hill (except a spinning instructor from equinox named Warren
Moe who is a super good guy)
So I had a great view of the Crash and battle for position and was
very happy with 7th place. In 1988, the last time I rode CRCA, 18
years ago, I came in 5th in a C race and won $5 - no kidding.
It was really fun to have so many of our guys in the race and along
the route. So much cooler than rider unattched. This particular group
was pretty well controlled too. Nobody rode dangerously, except flip
man. All-in-all very encouraging for future results... Given that
many of us haven't even started to Slam the training in earnest yet.
Steve, Steve Rob, Anthony, etc please add/correct anything if I
missed something or if there were other guys from our Squad in the race.
Long live the blue Camo Train - Niko
Saturday, April 8th
Woke up this morning to rain and 54 degree temps. Unfortunately, racing in CP in the rain means mud and horseshit splatter on your shins, back, socks, etc… not to mention the water that collects in your shoes and starts to slosh around after a few laps. The race was scheduled for 5 laps and the field was much bigger that the first race of the season. Our team had about 7 guys in the C field including me : Mike Yarmark, Rob Metcalf, James, Anthony Elgort, Chris Price, Etsu, and one other guy with a Fondriest and Zero gravity brakes. The race started off much faster than the first race of the season which is a good thing for non-sprinting skinny-cardio guys like me… It wasn’t too bad as far as far as sketchy riding and rain slicked roads. I thought it would make the race super dangerous but it was ok. Chris Price, one of the teams best bike handlers, ironically, slid out in a corner directly in front of me. Someone bumped his rear wheel on the turn going into Harlem Hill and that’s all his bike needed on that wet bend, and down he went. He was OK, but needed a new helmet and lost a bit of skin. As the laps ticked by the field got smaller and smaller. By the last lap, it was just me and Anthony Elgort who were left from Nyvelocity.com. Anthony rode really well. He helped me and the big guy re-connect with the front pack after they separated from us on the west side. I can’t believe how much energy I had to use to help shut down the football field sized gap that formed after Harlem Hill. By the last lap I was feeling fine in the middle of the pack and my HR felt like it was back below 120 so I decided to put in an attack on the last roller on the west side. I got a good gap and immediately, Greg Olsen, when ended up winning this race caught up to me and asked if I had anything left – I told him I would try and tried to get on his wheel but couldn’t hold it and the pack was right on us. If I had a little bit more experience I would have slid right into his slipstream instead of having to exert myself to catch up to him. I got into the pack and recovered for 2 minutes and then went to the front lead out the sprint, not to place, just for safety really. I ended up sitting up and getting about 11th place. I was just glad to finish and not crash. This was the first race where none of our guys placed in the B race.
May
Balloon festival race goes here. Fifteeth place tough hill, tough on the ego too. Did the best out of our guys but still missed the main break at the end of the second 20 mile lap.
Union Vale. July 16th, 2006 Cat 4/5 35+ (there was no Cat 4 only field) This race was 45 miles and had 3 difficult but not too selective hills in it per lap. Then a tough 1.5 mile finishing climb not on the course that had grades above 10% and was too tough for me and my 25 sprocket. It was pretty crazy how hot it was today above 90 with no neutral water. I decided to go with an extra half filled bottle of Poland Spring in my Jersey in addition to 2 over sized bottles one with accelerade- which was a good call since I ran out of water about half way through the 3rd lap. I guess I am a sweater. Three doubles might have been enough for me. In the final It got quite serious as I got dry mouth and was starting to see red on the ride back down from the finish.
At the beginning of the race Etsu Rick and I got to the line after only about 10 minutes of warm-up which is less than you want to have before a 45 mile race with hills. Luckily, it did not turn out to be an issue as the pace was VERY moderate the first lap. The pace was so moderate on lap 1 that I rode on the front of the pack on the biggest of the three hills of the circuit. I was 2nd wheel and felt like I to turn the screws a little bit more at the front but that would have been a classic rookie mistake and I didn't take the bait - it was still early and we still had 2 laps and a stiff finishing climb to go. Somewhere at the start of the second lap I started to feel not as good as I did at the beginning. I was constantly in bad position and had to work to improve it throughout the lap. At some point I even felt bad on the easier early hills. Luckily that didn't last and I was able to rest and recover for the last lap which I rode at the front of the race.
Warning: Bear in the road!
In the middle of lap 2 someone in front called out "bear up" in the same tone as "car up" and "pedestrian up" and there it was a bear the size of an average Upper West Side Sub-Zero Refrigerator running accross the road! I couldn't believe it. If I wasn't in the middle of a bike race I would have been scared. Later a turkey was in the road and people called it out as well.
Maybe the highlight of my race was Aaron Wolfe asking me if I wanted to go on a break. He and I had never talked or met before today and I can only assume that he liked the speed at which I climbed the big climb (second wheel) on lap one. I politely told him that I was decent on the hills but not really so great on the flats. He ended up finishing 4th on the day.
Finally there were a few surges and I was able to stay with the front group which builf confidence. Near the end of lap 3 I got into some trouble and briefly lost contact with the ever shrinking peleton and had to chase going down hill. I got into an aero tuck and (hand by the stem and chin on stem pedals at 3 and 6 o'clock) It was amazing how well this worked! I was with the lead group by the entrance to the final climb. However, by this time I had been without water for nearly 20 minutes and was concerned that riding at 180 bpm for 10 minutes to finish the race would really be bad for my body...
I definitely believe that if I did not run out of water I would have contested spots 2-10 with the contenders. For virtually the entire race I climbed the hills within my limits and was never in trouble even with the surges. Too bad. Still not bad for my first 4 race I am happy with my 16th place.
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July 30th CRCA B race Points race Estu Niko and Sanchez on the attack.
Capital region race, Raven
Bear Mtn race September 10th.
This race is the Tour De France for riders in our area. Every Cat 4 or 3 riders wants to do well here. I don't know my placing yet but I