Playing Director Sportif

"Don't worry about any early breaks, especially solo riders, they won't last. Be patient and stay with the group." Complete strategical error on my part, though, I wasn't the only one.

It was Saturday, 10 April, and I was sharing my advice as a pseudo director sportif with Lee before the start of the 2010 Tour of Battenkill. The wind was nearly constant and strong enough that I would have expected any early break aways to fail miserably by the end of the 63 mile race. I told Lee and Taylor to make sure they had another rider to work with and share the draft, staying with a group would be the best bet. Common sense and conservative strategy says, sticking it out as a group and working together is going to make it easier for everyone, anyone trying to go it alone would likely be too tired at the end of the race to hold on for victory.
It was exactly the kind of day to play the odds and try something a little wild.

The Cat[egory] 5 race pulled away from the start with little fanfare. I jumped in the car with Kristy and Jim, and we made our way for feed zone 1, about 17 miles into the race. Kristy drove while I poured over the sheets of race information to find the best way to the feed zone.
We arrived at feed zone one and waited for the Cat 5 guys to come through. The large group of guys I expected didn't come. One guy by himself came trucking through and maybe a minute later came another guy looking a little more fatigued. A few minutes later a group of 10 or 12 riders came through, it was all that was left of the Cat 5 peleton. Over the first two major hills, the peleton had shattered apart, not even 17 miles in.

Lee came through, a bit upset that he'd missed a turn, but only a few minutes behind what was left of the peleton. Taylor was maybe two minutes later, he looked content to hang with his pace and enjoy a day on the bike. We walked back to the car and headed for another spot on course to watch the riders go by. The lead rider had increased his lead to nearly 7 minutes at this point, the solo chaser had been swallowed by the peleton, which seemed unconcerned with chasing very hard. After seeing Lee and Taylor come through we headed for feed zone 2. We parked and were headed towards the race route and the feed zone when I saw Lee coming, I ran towards the course screaming, "Lee, do you need water?"
We weren't technically at the feed zone, but I figured, what the heck, if he really needs it then he should take it, he was by himself anyhow. He passed on the fluid hand up. I then ran up the hill to get to the feed zone for Taylor, who did take a hand up after taking nothing at the first feed zone.

Back to the car, and we boogied to another spot on course to watch. This time at one of the dirt road sections of the course. The riders were coming down one hill and into a short, but quite steep uphill. Many were struggling up the hill.
I saw 4 guys together that had been part of the Cat 5 'peleton,' It had apparently shattered even further. Lee and Taylor came through, and at this point all we could do was cheer and provide encouragement, our feed zone work was complete, and any strategy had been completely scrapped. There were only 15 miles left to go.

While I was wishing that I'd been out there riding, I still had a lot of fun running around playing director sportif and feed zone guru. It's a job that I could actually get into, I enjoyed it nearly as much as riding. It was far less painful too, though I imagine far worse for the waste line over time.
I took numerous photos throughout the day, you can see them here.

Here, take some Speed

Hey you, here, take this speed. Actually, I don't promote drug use. In fact, I won't even take ibuprofen unless my body really, really, hurts. But, despite my lackluster show of speed at Putney I was rather surprised tonight. I think someone injected me with something in my sleep or slipped something in my lunch today.

I took Monday off as a rest day and caught up on some chores. Then, today, I wasn't sure I'd even get to ride, strong thunderstorms were on their way. After consulting the radar several times, I decided it was a go, and then even decided it would be possible to pull off the Tuesday Night Sleeping Giant ride before the rain came. Lee rolled out the door with me and we rolled a nice warm up before arriving at Sleeping Giant State Park. I told him as we pulled away from the house and my legs screamed in agony, "I hope I can manage to hold on until the Paul Bunion Statue." The statue sits about half way through the ride. As we warmed up more, my legs started to feel alright.

The the Sleeping Giant ride started, this week it was split in two, with another group riding a slightly longer route. This was nice because it dropped the total number of riders in one group down, and the really fast guys opted for the long route while I opted for the short route. That's not to say the short route was going to be slow though. It may have started out a little easier since no one really wanted to pull at the front, but after a few miles the pace was sitting high. Somehow, I was easily sitting in the first 10 guys of the pack through nearly the entire ride. A few times, on some short uphills I surged to the front.

Then we pulled onto route 10, I was getting positioned for the sprint up the hill to the grocery store entrance. I let three or four guys expend large amounts of energy at the front and when the hill kicked up I began to surge. Unfortunately, I was sort of blocked into moving up the ride side and after I got to the front and was pushing on the pedals with everything I had for about 5 or 10 seconds I heard it. "Clank, clank, clank." Each time the tires rotated something in the back end was smacking the frame of my bike. I pulled off onto a sidewalk entrance as the entire peleton kept on trucking. I'd taken a metal spring to the rear tire. After a quick change of tubes I was up and rolling. Though I had no hope of catching the group again, likely going 5mph slower on my own, I time trialed my way home holding 20-25 mph.

Upon arriving at the house, Lee says to me, "I decided you're a liar." Truly, I didn't think I was going to be able to hold on tonight, some how I ended up playing around at the front of the pack.

I made it home about 5 minutes before the rain too.

I posted some select pictures from Putney. I included some random faces, just because I kind of like some of the pictures. Look at them here.

BIG week

It seems like so much has happened since the race in New York City, and yet I have some how put off writing, or at least forgot to when I had the time. There has been a lot of riding since that race.

I took the day after the race off to rest, then Tuesday I would have normally done a moderately paced recovery ride. Instead, I was somehow convinced to take part in the Tuesday night Sleeping Giant ride. It is the so called 'race without an entry fee.' I can't describe it any better than that. Guys from all sorts of categories show up (read as, guys who are a lot lot lot faster than me show up). Anyways, I think this was the third time ever that I tried this ride. It is a bit sketchy to start, the roads are littered with potholes for the first 2 miles and the ride is fast, and if you've ever ridden in a large group of cyclists, there is next to no ability to see what is coming your way on the road. Well, in short, my goal was to simply survive with the pack to the end of the ride, which I had yet to accomplish in my previous attempts. That night things went just right, and I managed to finish up with the big guns. Wow, the legs hurt.

I put in some recover miles on Wednesday, took Thursday off, then went riding with Jake on Friday. We ended up killing a few short, steep, punchy climbs. With as strong as Jake has been this year, I was hurting. I hadn't really recovered from Sunday and Tuesday's efforts. Quite likely not the greatest move on my part since I intended to race the next morning in the Nutmeg Criterium.

Note to self, don't ride with Jake the night before a race if you hope to do well.

I showed up at the crit, with few ambitions to place, but plenty of hope to stay in the pack to the finish and get a good work out in. Goals accomplished. I was wishing I'd had legs at the end of the race though, tactically it was the best I'd ever been able to read a race. It may have helped that a majority of the field was comprised of squirrely, inexperienced, junior riders that thought they could walk away from the peleton into the head winds. I was near the front with 1/3 lap to go at the top of the small rise and decided to try for a sprint, but I didn't have it, realized it, sat up and let the peleton pursue the sprint to the finish. I proceeded to pack up, drive 30 minutes home, and put an extra 28 miles in for the day.

Sunday was the annual Tour de Cure, which members of the Sikorsky Cycling club participate in. What is exceptionally nice is that it starts just a couple miles from my residence. I didn't actually sign up this year, but decided to ride the route with some friends that had signed up. I just went self supported, while the helped themselves at rest stops. Despite some significant issues with a flat and a tire that was far too worn out at the start of the ride, we ended up having a good ride. We all agreed that we were just warming up when the tire issues started and never really felt like our legs were quite there after sitting around playing with the tire. I ended up with 67 miles out of that ride at an average speed of 18.2 mph.

I started the week off with another Monday rest day. My legs were a bit sore all day from the high mileage, and heavy efforts of the course of the week. Then came Tuesday again. Feeling ambitious I went for the Sleeping Giant ride again, but put in some miles before the ride. This time, I was struggling to hold pace at times but managed to stay in the peleton. At one point I was feeling really pretty good. Then made a turn, into a slight rise, and the usual accelerations out of the turn happened. Well I got caught up behind the wrong guy and had to brake check a bit killing all of my momentum. I tried to accelerate back up to speed up the small rise, but my legs just filled to the brim with lactic acid and pretty much shut down. I watched the group pull away. I took a small shortcut and managed to get just ahead of the speeding peleton. The shortcut allowed me enough rest to jump back into the draft for the remainder of the ride down the smooth and straight asphalt.

My legs now hurt so good.

Insta-bonk

After suffering a grade 1 A.C. separation and being off the bike for 3 weeks and 2 days, I made a triumphant return to the road bike on Saturday. Surprisingly enough I felt pretty good and was even able to push my pace to some decent speeds at times. It was really great to be back on the bike, and in such good weather too.

My legs hurt a bit after I finished the ride, but I wasn't all that shocked. I'd put in a pretty good ride after such a long time off. Sunday, I figured I'd get another good ride in, though my plan was to take it fairly easy. I did keep myself from going overly hard, though the head wind certainly gave me its best.

Then after about 17 miles, the legs got real tired. Luckily I was already on the return portion of my loop. Not far after the legs got tired I was really starting to struggle and the wind was wreaking havoc with me. Then I began too realized just how hungry I was. It hit me, I'd just bonked. Quite possibly the quickest bonk that had even struck me. Thinking about what I'd eaten early in the day I quickly came to the conclusion that it was no where near enough to be out exercising for very long. It was really probably just enough to exist with basic functionality.

Lesson learned: eat more, ride well, get stronger.

This Spring seems to have a high K constant

Spring is suddenly approaching rather quickly, I feel like I've barely done much riding to speak of and the important races are drawing close. So far I ventured to Bethel for a short criterium, mostly for the workout, not really the results. Though I finished mid-pack without contesting the sprint. Last Thursday, a whole week ago now, was my last ride. I stopped at the velodrome in Trexlertown, PA on my way to Washington D.C. After going in ovals for an hour I continued my car ride. Upon returning from D.C. I immediately wound up with the second sore throat and head cold in less than three weeks. Riding was a thought, but with a nice chest cough it seems I'll be holdng off for maybe a day longer.

I'll get to see just how poorly prepared I am soon enough. For another work out, I'll be at the Plainville Spring Series for another criterium, then the King of Burlingame mountain bike time trial. I fully expect to get womped in my first race as an expert. I finished midway in the results last year as a sport rider. A week later is the first Root 66 race of the season, Hop Brook Dam. This is the first 'important' race, and at 21 miles, I fully expect to be somewhere way behind the leaders. My primary goal at all of these, not to be DFL. I figure Hop Brook will be my wake up call to start putting some hours in.

My big excuse? I'm claiming that I don't want to burn out a third of the way into 'cross season this year and I'm only racing expert so that I can get a chance to ride longer races. We'll see how it all works out.

In the mean time, here is a video of riding at the velodrome. 25mph doesn't look as fast on video.

Velodrome Riding from Scott Frison on Vimeo.

Ride, Ride, Ride!

Two days, Four rides. All fun! I tuned up the road bike with a new chain, brake pads, bar tape and other minor tweaks Saturday morning then took the bike out for a ride. Twenty miles later, plus a stop at the bike shop to shoot the breeze I had a good ride in. After grabbing a quick bite to eat, it was off with the mountain bike for some rather technical riding. Despite the legs feeling mighty tired, I was getting through the technical stuff rather adeptly.

Sunday morning started early, too early to be awake and be happy. I headed up to the Bethel Spring Series for a little high intensity, high speed work, and my first criterium. It was cold. As a newly licensed roadie, I took part in the mighty short cat 5 race. My legs had nothing, and I was simply there for the workout, my only hope was that I could stay with the peleton for the entire race. I managed to do so, and even found myself near the front on a regular basis. If I'd had some legs I might have even contested the uphill sprint for the finish.

I packed up, headed out, stopped for breakfast #2 and swapped bikes. Another good mountain bike ride in the afternoon. The legs are pretty tired after all those rides, but it was all a lot of fun.